Meta Madness
by angelswatchingover
Summary: Life in the MOL bunker had settled into a routine when Charlie calls with a case - a haunting on the set of the Supernatural movie set. The books are being made into a movie and the boys are not happy about their lives becoming entertainment, especially when they learn of the liberties taken with their story. And to make matters even worse, the Ghostfacers are already on the case!
1. Chapter 1

_**AUTHORS NOTE**: Please note that this is a Dean/Castiel fanfic. I am pretty sure I am going to keep it PG because I want it to have the feel of an SPN episode, but just wanted to give readers the heads-up in case Destiel isn't your cup of tea. Thanks for reading and feel free to provide feedback. I have the main story outlined but this is very much a work in progress so feel free to share your thoughts and ideas. Thanks!_

* * *

Life in the Men of Letters bunker had settled into a normal routine, if you could call anything about two supernatural hunters, a profit of the Lord and a fallen angel sharing a secret society underground bunker normal. Man, thought Dean, that sounds more like the beginning of a bad joke than the strangeness that was his life.

It had been rough going there at first. That night a couple of months ago when he pulled up to the front of the bunker with his brother spitting up blood and breathing so shallow he had to keep checking his pulse had been a low point. But Sam was pulling through, like he always seemed to. Each day he was getting stronger and stronger and Dean could see he was itching to get back to hunting.

For all Sam had talked about wanting to get out of the life, now that he had gotten a sample of being stuck in the bunker, he was actually going a bit stir crazy. He kept looking online for old fashioned easy salt & burns, bringing them to Dean with that hopeful expression, trying to convince him that they were easy enough for them to take on. But Dean had him on lockdown until he was back to full fighting health.

Maybe it _is_ about time to get back out there, Dean thought, as he looked around the table at his roommates. He had managed to keep Kevin from fleeing with the angel tablet and even Cas had shown up on their doorstep a week after the angels fell, dirty, exhausted, and human but alive. Dean nearly shivered at the thought of the week he spent struggling to keep his brother alive while believing that his best friend was already dead. He woke up from many nightmares with the image burned into his head of Cas falling from the sky with his wings burning off.

Dean looked to his friend, "So, are you in our out, Cas? Remember, if you think you have a better hand than the rest of us, match or raise. If not, fold. Or you could bluff if you want us to think you have a better hand than you really do."

Castiel looked at Dean with a stern expression, "Dean, I won't lie to you again. I learned the hard way how much trouble that causes. I think that the three kings I have will be sufficient without bluffing."

"Fold!" Sam and Kevin said at the same time, both slapping their cards face down on the table.

Dean sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. OK, so teaching a former Angel of the Lord how to play poker may not have been his best plan. Luckily, they were saved from the game by an incoming call from Charlie.

Dean answered, putting her on speaker, "Hey, guys! How's things down in the cave of wonders?"

"Charlie, hi. We're good. How are things in… well, wherever you are these days?" Sam greeted their mysterious friend.

"Well, I think I have case for you. And you're not going to believe this one!" Charlie couldn't contain her laughter. The men looked at each other wondering what kind of case she would send them on would actually be funny.

Dean was the first to lose patience, "Charlie, what's going on?"

"OK, well, you know I keep my eye on the Supernatural fandom, right? Well, you, my friends are about to hit the silver screen! Sorry to inform you, but your lives are being made into a movie, actually rumor has it they are planning a whole trilogy so three movies actually."

"Son of a bitch! How many times are those books going to haunt us?"

Sam rolled his eyes and huffed, "So, I guess there isn't much we can do to stop a movie from being made. So what does that have to do with a case?"

"Well, since this seems to be par for the course for you guys, it should be no surprise that it looks like there's haunting on the set. Three people that were up for the role of Castiel have been injured in unexplainable ways."

"Cas?" Dean chimed in, "The books were only published through me going to hell. How do they even know about Cas?"

"Sorry Dean," Charlie sucked in a breath between her teeth, knowing she was passing on some unwelcomed news, "a bunch more were published online just before the author disappeared. They ended with Sam jumping into the pit."

"What the hell?! That's a horrible ending! Who would end a story on that note!? I'm going to kill Chuck if he ever shows his face again."

"Actually, that last book, it's called Swan Song and it's… pretty amazing! Anyway, so, three actresses have been-"

"Wait, did you say actresses? I thought the victims were going to play Cas?"

"Exactly," chimed Charlie cheerfully, "Congratulations, Castiel, you just grew a uterus. You are being cast as a woman."

Castiel squinted with his best confused look. Sam held his breath and looked cautiously at Dean, just waiting for an explosion. Kevin cracked up and said he had to go get a drink. While Dean pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. How was this his life?

"Dean, if this haunting is happening because of us, we had better go. People are in danger." Sam said, trying to keep the hopefulness in his tone to a minimum.

"I don't know, Sam. You are still recovering."

"I'm fine. Plus we can take Cas along too. Come on, three hunters can certainly handle a plain old salt and burn."

Castiel gave Sam a small smile, pleased to be considered among the hunters. Dean had spent the last several weeks training him in weapons, hunting and research techniques and he was eager to prove himself to the Winchesters.

Dean looked back and forth between his brother with those damn puppy eyes and his best friend actually smiling and fuck if he wasn't completely outnumbered and overpowered here. When they hell had this happened? "Fine! Charlie, send us the information. We'll head out tomorrow."

Dean wondered if anything could ever surprise him again. Then Charlie spoke. "OK, guys, you're not going to be able to just walk on set. This is Hollywood we are talking about here, not some horrific crime scene. Security is _actually_ going to be tight. So, because I'm that good, I secured all three of you jobs on set. OK, Sam, you are James Hetfield, wardrobe assistant. It's perfect. You will have access to all of the actors on set."

"James Hetfield, really Charlie? You're as bad as Dean with the aliases."

"Hey, at least I am nice enough to go with your whole rock-and-roll theme. I could have named you Frodo, Merry and Pippin."

Sam had to admit, Metallica did sound better than hobbits. Who knows what they would have ended up with Charlie's taste? "So, wardrobe? I don't know anything about that."

Charlie groaned, "How hard could it be to do wardrobe for Supernatural? Plaid shirts, jeans, and layers upon layers. I think that covers it?"

Sam made a bitch face. Dean squeezed his eyebrows together, looking up contemplatively. Kevin was back and he snorted laughter into his drink at that look on the hunter's faces.

"Moving on, Dean, you are Lars Ulrich. And because you were such a fantastic handmaiden, you are now the new assistant to the current actress playing Castiel. That way you can stay close to her and protect her since it seems to be her role that is drawing the spirit's wrath."

Dean nodded his head. Yeah, he could handle being the assistant to a hot actress.

"Castiel, you get to round off coverage by working as a part of the lighting crew. You will have access to the set crew. Your alias is Kirk Hammett."

Dean had to admit, Charlie had really done some good work here. Maybe she could be more integrated into their team. "Nice legwork, Charlie. If you send us all the details we will take care of it and keep you in the loop along with Kevin."

"Oh my God! I am Charlie and I just sent you three out on a mission over a speaker phone. Kevin, you are officially Bosley. And you three are now Charlie's angels!"

"I am human now and Dean and Sam have always been. There are no angels to assist with this case," Castiel informed Charlie.

Charlie laughed, "Oh my God, Dean. He's a keeper!"


	2. Chapter 2

The drive to California with three rusty hunters in an old Impala was long, very long. But Dean tried to use the time to his advantage by training up Castiel for the case. Since they had three different jobs, they wouldn't be together all of the time and Castiel was still not 100% with the people skills. Dean explained that he should do a lot of observing, listening and just do what the bosses say and he would find him on set to plan their next move.

When they arrived, Dean was reminded of a case they had worked years ago on another movie set and he immediately pulled Cas over to the catering table, excitedly showing him all of the awesome food that the cast and crew had access to. "Geez, Dean, is food all you ever think about?" Sam huffed at his brother as he stuffed his face. Dean was handing Cas a mini cheeseburger insisting that he try one.

"C'mon, Sammy, you've got to admit, this is a pretty awesome spread. They even have lettuce down there if you want to gnaw on some raw veggies!"

"Let's just find the office and get started."

They made their way to the office and were greeted by a harried admin talking into a headset while she was quickly tapping away on her smartphone

"Hello, ma'am, I'm Lars Ulrich. This is James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett. We are new hires."

"Oh, right, let's see," she began rooting through a stack of papers, "wardrobe, lighting, and Melody Waters' assistant. Here we go."

She handed them cursory paperwork to fill out while she made phone calls to each of their bosses to come and get them. Sam's new boss was the first to walk in. She was an older heavyset lady, probably in her fifties, but she looked very well put together. She was stylishly dressed in soft flowing dark colors and a thin scarf. It made sense that this woman dealt with clothing for a living.

"Hi, I'm Helen Mattingly. Which one of you is James?"

Sam stood up and outstretched his hand to greet her. "I am, nice to meet you."

She looked him over head to toe once and turned on her heel ordering him to follow her. He looked back at Dean with a helpless look but Dean just nodded his head toward the door to scoot his brother out of it. Sam followed Helen to a large enclosed area with racks of clothing lining most of the walls and a few small changing booths against one wall and mirrors on the opposite side.

"OK," said Helen pointing to the racks of clothing in the wardrobe area, "Each of these racks are labeled with the character's clothing. This is Sam, Dean is across the way and over here is Castiel. There are tags on each item that tell which act and scene the item will be used for. We have all the primaries coming in this morning for initial fittings. You just need to have them try on the ones labeled Act I Scene 1 for now. If it fits, place them back on the rack. If it doesn't, over here on the reject rack. And if the actor complains about something, mark the label with the specific issue here and we will deal with it. Got it?"

"Uh, sure." Sam thought that sounded fairly easy. He looked over the racks labeled Sam and Dean and he thought they looked pretty much like the inside of his closet. Did they really wear that much plaid, he wondered as he looked down and noticed the blue plaid he was wearing today. Maybe he would go shopping after this case.

The first person to come in was a tall Fabio looking man with his shirt completely unbuttoned. He was built like a brick shithouse and had a chiseled face with light brown hair flowing past his shoulders. Sam groaned as he looked down at his schedule and realized that this guy was playing him.

The man extended his giant hand for a bone crushing shake, "Hi, uh, I'm Lance. I was told to come here for costume fitting?" Lance seemed pretty nervous as he wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. "I'm playing, uh, Sam?"

"OK, I'm James. So, I think you just need to try on some stuff for the first act."

"Thanks," Lance said and seemed relieved. "Sorry, this is my first big movie gig so I'm a bit green. Before this it's been mostly commercials. Maybe you've seen me? Axe body spray guy?"

Sam grunted something that he hoped didn't sound too offensive. "Well, here's the stuff they have labeled for Act I." Sam shoved a handful of shirts and pants at the guy. "There's the dressing room. Just let me know what fits and what doesn't."

Lance looked down at the pile of clothing and frowned. "Um, I'm kind of, you know, known for my physique. Isn't this a lot of layers? I was sort of thinking Sam is the kind of guy that doesn't like to wear shirts much."

You've got to be kidding, thought Sam. OK, sure, he liked to work out and took pride in his body but is this how Chuck had interpreted him? God, he hoped this case ended quickly!

"Look, I don't pick out the costumes, I just sort them. Can you just try them on?" Sam was trying hard not to sound frustrated.

Lance came out of the dressing room with the first red plaid shirt on left wide open in the front, showing off his rippling abs. "OK, how does this look? I'm still wearing what they want, it just shows off a little more." He preened in front of the mirror, making a few muscle poses.

"What about that t-shirt I gave you?"

"I don't think it is something that Sam would wear. It needs to be tighter. Do you have anything smaller?"

Sam sighed, "Tell you what, I'll mark down on that tag that the shirt is too big so they get you a smaller one, OK?" Don't roll your eyes, don't roll your eyes, Sam repeated to himself like a mantra.

The actor smiled at him and said, "So, James, have you read the books? What do you think about the story? Pretty farfetched, huh?"

"No, I haven't read the books, but, I, uh, am familiar with the story, definitely crazy stuff. Can you imagine, angels and demons?" Sam tried his best to sound like this was a preposterous idea.

"Right," laughed the actor, "and demon blood? Pretty cool, though! Drink demon blood and get super powers!" He said this with the enthusiasm of a five year old watching Spiderman cartoons.

Sam's face turned into something that could only be called a pout, "I don't think Sam did it for the super powers. He was just trying to kill Lilith." He realized he said this with maybe a bit too much emphasis when the actor looked back at him almost offended.

"Whatever, dude. Hey, maybe I can get them to add even more powers. Wouldn't it be cool if the demon blood made Sam fly like Superman or maybe go invisible?!" OK, thought Sam, this guy's a few cards short of a whole deck but he was still difficult to hate. He had this laid back surfer vibe that was kind of endearing.

Sam knew he needed to start questioning the cast members about the case. "So, have you heard about the actresses playing Castiel getting hurt? Weird, right?"

"No, what's weird? Sorry, I don't read much… or watch the news really."

"Uh, never mind. Anyway, if everything else fits OK, I think you're done."

Sam was just finishing up sorting out Lance's clothes when another actor strutted through the door. This douchebag was wearing sunglasses (indoors!) and was dressed in this pretentious hipster getup with baggy ripped pants, a tunic shirt, long scarf wrapped around his neck a few times and a beanie hat, flopped over to the side. He was talking to someone on his cell phone and barely spared a glance at Sam, just put up one finger, indicating that Sam could wait for him to finish.

Once he was finished with his phone conversation, he peered over his glasses at Sam, "I'm here for the Dean fitting." His voice sounded like he was forcing a low grumble.

"Hi, I'm James. So you're playing Dean, huh?"

"Yes, my name is Nick, but I will be putting that name aside for a while to _become_ Dean."

"Right, well, here's some stuff to try on for Act I. Just let me know what fits and what doesn't."

The man looked up and in a dramatic voice said, "Dean, sweating through is dirty green t-shirt, tied his flannel around his waist, squinting up at the oppressive sun, mouth parched and hands covered in the soil of his own grave."

"Huh?"

"It's from one of the books we are interpreting, Lazarus Rising. I delve as far into my characters as I can. I find memorizing parts of their origin story helps me to become _one_ with the character. Dean is such a complicated and heroic man, I will need to dig deep to bring him to life."

Oh, God, surely Sam was going to give himself an aneurism from holding in the eye rolls so much today. "Yeah, um, good luck with that."

"It's just the crying, you know? So much crying!"

"W-what," Sam sputtered.

"I'll have to find my inner tears to cry as much as Dean does."

"He doesn't…what…huh?" Sam couldn't believe this. How were their lives being manipulated and interpreted, anyway? He wanted nothing to do with these stupid books, but now he was afraid he may just have to look them up and see how Chuck had described their lives. Sure, Dean cries sometimes. But look at his life, he has every right to, doesn't he? A guy goes literally through hell and back has earned the right to show some emotion about it, right?

"But you know, with all that man pain? Maybe there could be an Oscar nom in it for me." The actor sounded hopeful for a moment then shook his head, "I doubt it, though. These award shows never give any acknowledgement to this genre. It's unfair, really. Oh, well. At least Dean gets to bang the hot angel, right?"

"Oh, Anna's in this, too?"

"No, Castiel."

Sam nearly choked. What the hell had Chuck written?! "Uh, I don't remember that from the books!"

"Well, it was added for the movie. I mean it's pretty implied in the books, right? I mean the epic staring, the dying for each other, the 'gripping you tight', and how many times do you need to look at a guy's mouth, really? All kind of points to something more, don't you think?"

Mouth agape, Sam managed, "But they're both guys and Dean is straight!"

The actor looked at Sam over his shoulder from where he was unbuttoning one of the shirts he had been trying on and rolled his eyes. "Riiiiight, cause it would be so unheard of for two dudes to get it on. And really, you think Dean is completely straight? Are you sure you are familiar with their whole story? I mean male siren? Dr. Sexy? Overcompensating male vibrato? Should I go on?"

Sam was dumbstruck. Everything that Nick was saying was swirling around in his head, fitting together in little empty spaces of his brain like a puzzle finally coming together. Yeah, he had noticed all those long stares between Dean and Cas. He thought it was just part of their whole, I don't know, profound bond thing. Cas dying for Dean a few times he had tried to write off as a sacrifice for humanity, not _Dean_ in particular. Maybe it was because Cas was Dean's guardian angel…. or something.

The guy definitely had a point about Dr. Sexy and that damn siren, though. OK, this was too much. Sam would have to re-evaluate thirty-some years (not including hell time) of everything he believed about his older brother. He started to think about what a mess Dean had been when he believed that Cas was killed by the Leviathans and how different Dean had been with Cas since getting back from Purgatory. What had happened there? Could his brother, lifelong skirt chaser, have fallen for an angel? In a male vessel? Come to think of it, he hasn't seen Dean express interest in any girls since Purgatory.

"It doesn't matter anyway, they have changed Castiel to a woman so that they could add the love story without pissing off the conservatives."

Oh, so that's why they are casting female actresses for this part, thought Sam. Taking advantage of this perfect segue, he decided to ask about the injured actresses. "Oh, so have you met the actress playing Castiel? I heard that she wasn't the only choice but that there were some accidents with the others?"

"I know, it's tragic! I barely knew any of them, though. They all had to quit because of injuries within a week of us starting rehearsals."

"So, I wonder if maybe they weren't accidents. Do you know if there was anyone that wanted the role that might be trying to get revenge for not being chosen or something?"

"Not that I know of. They only tested me with those three plus Melody, who has the role now. I gotta say, she doesn't seem like the type to go around burning people because they got a job she wanted, but, who knows? This is show business, right? It can be pretty cut throat."

Sam continued with his usual line of questioning about cold spots and sulfur smells only to get strange looks from the actor. It didn't seem like he knew anything.


	3. Chapter 3

Dean didn't have to meet up with Melody until after her costume fitting so he used the opportunity to do a little poking around. Unfortunately, EMF was coming up clean and this set was much too large to even start looking for hex bags. Frustrated with his lack of success, he decided to head over to find Cas and see if he or Sam had any better luck.

He found Castiel talking to two girls, one of whom had her hand on his arm and was obviously flirting. Something jealous and primal stirred in him at the sight, but he was able to quickly write it off as concern for the naïve angel. When Castiel saw Dean walking towards him, he immediately directed his attention to the hunter, stepping away from the girls. They were able to take the hint and go back to their work, but not, Dean noticed, before one of them slipped something into Castiel' pocket.

"Hey, Cas, popular with the ladies?"

"Those two women were forthcoming with information regarding our case."

"Well, Casanova, check your pocket. I'm pretty sure the brunette gave you her number."

"Yes. Based on her increased heart rate and pheromone levels, I believe the one named Katie wanted to engage in sexual relations with me." Dean nearly choked as Cas reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper with the name Katie and a phone number written on it. Of course, her i was dotted with a heart.

Dean grabbed the phone number from Cas and crumpled up the piece of paper, tossing it aside. "Well, we're a little busy with a case here. No time for chasing tail right now. So did you find anything out about the case when you weren't trolling for chicks?"

Castiel looked at Dean inquisitively and commented, "I was able to find that the three actresses that were injured all received burns of mysterious origin during their first week of rehearsals. The burns appeared on the one actress's eyes, another on her hands and the third was burned on her mouth."

"OK, sounds like maybe some kind of see no evil, speak no evil thing? Anyone know if there was someone up for the part that died violently?"

"No one was aware of a scenario like that, however, the lighting crew may not be privy to that level of information."

"Good point. Let's go see what Sam was able to dig up from the cast."

* * *

The sight as they walked through the door of the wardrobe area stopped Dean in his tracks and left him with his mouth hanging embarrassingly open.

Standing there in full costume was the actress who must be playing Castiel and she was gorgeous! They had her fitted in a costume that looked like she had just stepped out of a comic book. It was completely bad ass! She was wearing skin-tight black leather pants and knee high boots with spiked heels. On top she was wearing a loose white V-neck blouse under a black bustier which was tied up in the front with a blue ribbon exactly the color of Castiel's tie. In her hand was a silver angel blade. And of course she had on a tan overcoat, but hers was longer than Cas' and form fitting and seriously hot!

But her face is what caught Dean's breath. They had managed to find an actress who had Cas' features but on a softer, feminine face. She had those same soft pink lips and an unruly mass of dark curls tumbled over her shoulders, framing her high cheeks. But her eyes! She had Cas' kind, inquisitive blue eyes that held him transfixed. "Holy shit," he breathed out before he could catch himself.

Castiel turned his head to stare at Dean, eyes squinted as if he were trying to see inside of the hunter's head. Sam broke the awkwardness by coughing, "Um, can I help you?"

Dean picked up Sam's cue and answered, "Yes, I'm Lars Ulrich. I'm Melody Water's new assistant."

"Oh, hi, nice to meet you," responded the actress. And, oh fuck, thought Dean. Even her voice was sexy. It was a soft alto and she positively purred when she talked. "Give me just a minute to finish up my fitting. So what do you think?" Melody spun herself around. "Do I look like an angel? And Dean's love interest?"

"Yes!" Dean answered quickly at the same time that Castiel growled, "No!"

Melody gave Castiel a pout and turned back to Dean, "Thank you. I'll be right with you." She handed Sam back her angel blade and walked back to the fitting room.

Sam was on them the moment she pulled the curtain closed. "So, did you guys find anything," he whispered to Dean and Castiel.

"No EMF but Cas found out that the three actresses were attacked with burns to the hands, mouth and eyes. I don't know, maybe something to do with the senses? We still don't have any information about violent deaths that could be related to this set, though. How about you? Did you find out anything interesting?"

Sam gulped and looked back and forth between his brother and the angel and squeaked out, "No," a little too hesitantly.

Dean side-eyed his brother knowing that there was something else behind that answer. He was going to have to question him more on that later. "Fine. I'm going to have to go with Melody. I will question her since she is in the targeted role. Maybe she's seen something. Cas, keep an eye out for hex bags in case we are dealing with a pissed off witch. Sam, you can… keep playing dress up."

Sam shifted his weight and pouted at Dean huffing out, "I'm not… Dean, just meet me back here in an hour and we can head to the library."

As Dean and Melody were walking back towards her trailer, she looked at him and said, "I want to let you know that I really don't have a lot of stuff that I need an assistant for, I mostly was afraid to be alone. Some lunatic has been attacking actresses that are up for the role of Castiel."

"I heard about that. Has anyone come after you yet?"

"No, but this week is my first week of rehearsals. That is when the others were attacked."

"So there were three other actresses up for this part? Were there any others besides them and you?"

"I don't think so, but they don't really tell us too much about the casting. I just don't understand what kind of psycho would attack people just because they are playing a part. I've been nervous about being alone."

"Listen, I have some background in, uh, security. Why don't you let me look over your trailer for anything suspicious before you get ready for your afternoon rehearsals?"

"Oh my gosh, that would be so great. Thank you so much for everything, Lars." They had arrived outside of her trailer and she leaned in and gave Dean a peck on the cheek.

Dean went through her trailer, searching it top to bottom for hex bags but it was clean. As much as he was glad that it wasn't a witch (he hated witches), he wished that he could find some evidence of what was going on here. No EMF, no hex bags and no history of violent deaths. Maybe this wasn't going to be quite the simple salt and burn that he thought.


	4. Chapter 4

NOTE: This chapter includes references to the short _Supernatural – Ghostfacers Meet Castiel__._ Because this wasn't in a Supernatural episode, if you haven't watched this, you may want to before reading this chapter.

At lunchtime, Dean excused himself from Melody and promised to return in an hour. She was having lunch with cast members so she wouldn't be alone during that time. On his way to the wardrobe area his ears perked up when he heard someone call his name.

"Oh, I might have known the Winchesters would be here," came the vaguely familiar voice from behind him.

Dean turned around and saw two men approaching. Not these guys! It was the two idiots that called themselves the Ghostfacers. What were their names? Harry and Ed? Dean groaned audibly, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Ed approached him first, "We might ask you the same question. You and your douchebag brother destroyed our tapes and stole our idea!"

"What are you talking about?" Dean growled at the shorter man.

This time Harry chimed in, "Really? You expect us to believe that you just happened to be named Sam and Dean and you just happen to hunt ghosts but that has nothing to do with this movie?! It was _our _idea to sell a ghost hunting show to Hollywood and you stole it. You wrote all those books and now they are making a movie out of them."

Ed leaned over his friend's shoulder, "Yeah, and you even used us in those books. Shouldn't you owe use money or something?"

"Exactly, for using our likeness, right Ed?"

Dean sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. What was he going to tell these guys? They knew who Sam and Dean really were. Damn it, some version of the truth looked like the only way out of this one. "Look guys," Dean lowered his voice to tell them, "We don't have anything to do with this movie. We are just here because there seems to be a haunting on the set and we don't want anyone else to get hurt, OK?"

Ed looked at Harry then back to Dean rolling his eyes, "Duh! What do you think we are doing here? We are Ghostfacers after all." Ed said this dramatically bringing his hand up over his face and drawing it down into a fist under his chin. What the hell was that, thought Dean, the secret Ghostfacer signal?

"Ever since you and Sam destroyed our life's work, we have been out here investigating every haunting we hear about. We still need to get another one on film."

"Listen," growled Dean, "you can't call us by our real names while we are here. We just want to destroy the vengeful spirit and get out of here."

When Dean arrived at Sam's wardrobe area with Ed and Harry in tow, he looked up and groaned loudly at the sight of the Ghostfacers, "What are they doing here?"

"You!" Ed approached Sam, "You're Carver Edlund, aren't you?"

Harry stepped in line by Ed, "You are an idea-stealer! We wanted to sell our paranormal investigation idea out here."

Sam looked helplessly at his brother who responded, "Scooby and Scrappy here are still trying to hunt down a vengeful spirit for their show. Guys, listen, this is dangerous work. You could get yourselves killed."

"Oh, for the love of Buffy," groaned Ed, "_We_ are the professionals here. We do know the dangers." He gestured to Harry, who quickly pulled off his backpack and unzipped it, pulling out the contents one at a time. "Salt, Super Soaker filled with holy water, iron crowbar, EMF reader, and we even have salt rounds back at our headquarters. Good enough for you?"

Dean raised his eyebrows and nodded, OK, at least these guys came with some gear. "Listen guys, we can handle this one. Why don't you go back to your mom's basement so you can play your Dungeons and Dragons?"

"No way, we aren't leaving here without our footage," Harry insisted.

"Yeah," said Ed, "We don't play D&D. That's so lame. Try War Hammer?!"

Dean pulled his brother aside, "What the hell are we going to tell the Geek Squad over there? They know about us and the books."

Their conversation was interrupted, however, by screams from Ed and Harry, who ran to get behind the Winchesters as the room broke out in complete chaos.

Harry was pointing at the door yelling, "It's a TOSH! It's a TOSH!"

Dean growled, "What the hell?"

"A Trans-locating Opaque Spectral Humanoid!"

Ed was holding onto the back of Sam's jacket and Sam tried to shake him off. Castiel had entered the room and was looking 1000% done with this shit.

Ed squeaked, "We've seen him before, he said he's an angel."

Dean looked at him, "He _is_ an angel."

"Technically," Castiel chimed in trying to be helpful, "I no longer have an angel's grace so in my current state I am something that can be perceived as closer to human."

Ed yelled, "When we saw him he talked about the apocalypse. Oh my God! It's the Apocolypse!" Harry picked up the Super Soaker and blasted Castiel in the face. Castiel, to his credit, barely flinched, just closed his eyes and spit out the water.

Sam snatched the toy from Harry's hands and yelled, "It's holy water! What do you think it's going to do to an angel besides get him wet?!"

Dean had officially had enough. "Alright every one calm the fuck down! He is a friend, not a TOSH! Yes, we were in those Supernatural books but we didn't write them! They were written by a prophet, who has now disappeared. We were just pawns in the world's biggest pissing match between angels and the devil to kickstart the Apocalypse. We managed to stop them, but now some asshat has decided to make a movie out of that mess because there are some sadistic mother fuckers who think that this Supernatural crap is entertaining! It's nothing but death and misery. Why would anyone want to watch that? We want nothing to do with it and we really just want to gank this damn spirit and get the hell away from this movie. Got it?"

The place went dead silent for about 30 seconds after Dean's tirade.

"So, you know this guy, and he's an angel but he's not here to start the apocalypse?" Ed managed.

"Relax, he's with us. He's one of the good guys." Dean told Ed, who was just gathering himself enough to let go of Sam's sleeve. "His name is Castiel. Cas, you know these guys?"

"Yes. It was written that they were to be witnesses to the apocalypse. It was my duty to inform them of the divine plan for them."

Harry looked put out, "Yeah? Well, all he did was shatter my Shatner!"

"My apologies for the broken picture."

Just then their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door as a pretty woman with dark hair came into the room. "Is this the right place to be for costume fitting?"

Dean's mouth hung open until he managed to breathe out, "It's… It's Dr. Ellen Piccolo."

"Who?" Sam asked.

"Come on, you can't tell me you don't remember Dr. Piccolo, Sam, you brilliant, brilliant coward. She's the sexy but earnest doctor who is in love with Dr. Sexy?"

The actress smiled, "Actually, It's Sophia Corbin. You must be a fan?"

Sam coughed and gestured to Dean, "_He_ is. I'm more of a casual viewer."

Ed quipped, "He-Man here is a fan of Dr. Sexy? Isn't that chick show?"

"Shut it or I'll shatter a lot more than your Shatner!" Dean pointed at Ed.

The actress looked around at the group of men, the tension in the room was palpable. "Is this a bad time? I can come back."

"It's fine," said Sam, "these guys were just leaving. What is your role? I can get you started."

"I'm playing Anna Milton."

Sam grabbed a handful of clothes from her clothing rack and ushered her to the changing room before returning to the group of men, "Listen," he addressed the Ghostfacers, "we've got this. We don't want you to get hurt so we will take care of getting rid of this spirit."

"No way!" Harry held his ground. "We were here first and you owe us a ghost sighting! We're staying."

Sam realized that the only way to keep these idiots safe would be to keep an eye on them. He pulled Dean and Castiel aside, "Heckle and Jeckle here are going to get themselves killed unless we babysit them. As much as I hate to say it, I think we are going to have to keep them close, otherwise, they are going to go poking at this thing and causing more damage."

"Goddammit!" Dean was fuming but he knew that Sam had a point. The last thing they needed was to aggravate this spirit even more and he had no doubt that's exactly what these two would do. Turning back to Harry and Ed he told them, "OK, we'll let you help with the case but here's the deal, you do everything, and I mean everything, exactly as we say. Go it?"

"One second," said Ed, "I need to confer with my partner first." Pulling Harry to the side he whispered, "This could be our chance to get another one on film. If half the stuff in those books is true, then these guys will definitely have an encounter with the specter. They're like magnets for the supernatural. I say we get Maggie and the cameras and play along with them."

"I don't know. We are more of a Lone Wolf… that works on a team… of three… or four… or sometimes five. OK, fine! Whatever. But you deal with the grumpy one."

Ed turned back around to face the Winchesters, "We accept your terms. We will help you eliminate this spirit on the condition that we keep the cameras rolling."

"You put our faces in your film and it will be the last thing you do," Dean threatened.

"Got it," said Harry, "just film the spirit."

"Alright, listen. I have to get back to Melody. Sam, why don't you take Harry and interview the victims. Cas, you OK with taking Ed with you to the library and researching this set for violent deaths?"

Everyone agreed to the responsibilities. Dean sighed, there is just no way this was going to turn out well.


	5. Chapter 5

Dean headed back to Melody's dressing room and knocked on the door. When she didn't answer right away and he heard a soft whimper from inside the room, a lifetime of training kicked in and his spidy senses began tingling. He reached around under his jacket for the weapon he always kept tucked in the back of his pants, taking comfort in the smooth feeling of the ivory against his fingers. As he stretched his hand towards the doorknob, prepared to face whatever was inside, Melody opened the door sobbing.

Dean immediately pushed past her, gun raised, making sure to keep her safely behind his back as he cleared every corner of the room. Dean then turned on Melody, "Are you OK? Did something hurt you?"

The poor girl stood frozen, eyes trained on the gun in Dean's hand and mouth agape. Dean lowered his weapon and grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to look up at Dean. "Melody, what attacked you?"

"What? Nothing. It's just… they might change Castiel's story line." The actress sniffled again at the thought.

"So nothing attacked you. This is just about the movie?"

"W-why do you have a gun?" Melody's voice was shaking and shallow.

"I thought it would be good to be prepared considering recent circumstances."

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry if I scared you." Melody took a deep breath to calm herself and turned back to walk into the room, heading straight for the small couch that sat in the corner where her box of tissues were. "I heard that they want to change the whole story so that Anna is Dean's love interest instead of Castiel. Apparently, Nick wants to work more with Sophia, who is playing Anna just because he is a fan of Dr. Sexy. It's not fair!"

Dean followed her inside to sit next to her on the couch. "Uh, sorry to hear about that."

"I mean, in the books, it's so obvious that Castiel is in love with Dean. How could they change that?"

"Wait… Castiel is… what?"

"Oh, I know that Dean was with Anna and not Castiel in the books, but Anna ended up betraying him and Castiel is the one who stuck around. Shouldn't that mean that Castiel is the one Dean should be with?" The actress was full on crying again, making Dean extremely uncomfortable.

Dean tried consoling her, "You're right. Listen, Anna was a one night stand at best. She was there and willing and I'll bet Dean was also kind of curious about being with an angel. But it didn't really mean anything." Dean couldn't believe he was actually arguing the case for why fake Cas should be with fake Dean. His life was weird.

"I know, right?" Melody looked up at him through tear filled eyes. "Castiel is the one who saved Dean from hell. He rejected millions of years of training and even torture to rebel for Dean. He chose Dean over his own family and he was even willing to die for him multiple times. And even in that one book when Dean went to the future, Castiel stayed with him and gave up his powers when the rest of the angels left. How can anyone not see how much Castiel is in love with Dean?"

Dean was dumbstruck. No one had ever really laid it all out there like that. Could Cas really feel that way about him? Everything that Melody had just said was swirling around in his head, making him dizzy from thinking about it all. From the moment he had met Castiel his life has been a constant race to save the world, his loved ones or his own skin. He barely had time to breathe, much less take time to consider the motivation behind Cas' actions.

A couple of memories of getting tossed around by Castiel came to the forefront now. Dean remembered Cas telling him that he rebelled, was hunted, gave up everything and he did all of it for Dean, not for peace or for heaven or for humanity, but for _Dean_. At the time, the depth of those words didn't really register. He was a little more focused on the broken nose and cheekbone that Cas had given him in that alley. But now, thinking about what Cas had said and what Melody just told him, he had to take another look at what his friend really meant by those words.

And Melody didn't even know about everything that Cas had done since the failed Apocalypse. He kept coming back to Dean over and over again, long after his original responsibilities to him were over. The dude had taken on the archangel Raphael without him, just to spare Dean from getting back into the hunting life. He had taken on Sam's crazy into himself and had helped gank Dick Roman. In purgatory, he tried to protect Dean by leading the Leviathans away from him. And in Lucifer's crypt, something had broken Naomi's control over Cas.

Could it really be that Cas felt that strongly about him? Dean couldn't understand why. Castiel was an angel of the Lord. He has been alive longer than Dean could comprehend. He must have seen and guarded millions of people in his time. Why Dean? Why this high school dropout with nothing to his name but a '67 Impala? He was just a hunter (who, honestly had seen better days). He had been at the center of a shitstorm for as long as he could remember. Hell, he had almost destroyed the world because he couldn't even hold out in hell. What would someone like Cas want with him? It just didn't make sense.

He had nothing to offer, and yet, here Cas was, with him. The first thing Cas had done after losing his grace was to seek out Dean. Cas trusted him and needed him. But love?

The actresses sniffles brought Dean out of his contemplation. "That's the whole reason that they cast Castiel as a woman. What do you think would have happened if Castiel had chosen a female vessel?"

Dean looked at the beautiful actress in front of him. Her sad eyes were pools of blue that he could get lost in and reminded him too much of his friend. What if Cas _had_ burst through those barn doors in Melody's body? Would he have acted differently? Hell yes! Let's just say there's no way Cas would still be a virgin. That night a few years ago before they took on Raphael? Dean is pretty sure his last-night-on-earth speech would have been used to get the angel into a bed, but certainly not some prostitutes'. Hell, if he is being honest with himself, after Cas' failed attempt to get laid, he looked so adorably confused that Dean almost had kissed the guy in that alley.

"Yeah, I guess I see what you mean." Dean told Melody sheepishly.

"In the books, Dean Winchester is way too wrapped up in his whole masculine bravado to ever see past Castiel's male vessel to realize how perfect they could be for each other. This movie was going to give their love story a chance," the actress had put her hand on Dean's arm and moved closer. He could tell how much she cared about the story (_his_ story). She was starting to make him see how fans could take an interest in the Supernatural books.

Dean thought about what she had said. Did he really come across that way? Had he been too stubborn to see what Melody was seeing?

Just then, the lights began to flicker and the temperature dropped about thirty degrees. Dean knew immediately he needed to get Melody far away from whatever was haunting this set. The lights in the room burst, casting them into darkness. He turned to Melody, "You're in danger. We have to get you out of here. Stay close."

Damn, he just had his standard handgun, not the sawed-off with the salt rounds. He frantically searched the room for something iron when he noticed the vanity table she was using had wrought-iron legs. He quickly turned over the table and slammed his foot down, breaking one of the legs off. Melody jumped and screamed at the unexpected behavior but he turned and growled at her get behind him.

Melody did as she was told and followed barely a footstep behind Dean, holding onto the back of his jacket. He knew the spirit had to be close. Something slammed into the front of him, nearly knocking him off his feet. When the spirit flickered into visibility, he could see it was a woman and she was holding what looked like blue flames in each hand, which would explain the burns. Melody screamed and practically crawled up Dean's back.

Dean swung the table leg through the spirit and watched as it dissipated. "It won't be gone long. Come on."

"What was that?" Melody was gulping down huge gasps of air in her panic.

But before Dean could answer the ghost appeared again, this time behind Melody, who panicked and lost her footing, falling in a heap on the floor. The spirit of the woman leaned over Melody, barely and inch away from her face, staring into her eyes, snarling. But just as Dean was about to take another swing, the woman disappeared.

Dean grabbed Melody's hand and helped her to her feet then shoved her towards the door. Melody didn't hesitate and ran with Dean following behind, keeping an eye out for the spirit to make another appearance. Once outside, Dean remembered that Sam took the Impala. "You got a car?" he asked Melody.

"Yes, over here," she ran towards a yellow Beetle, "but I left the keys inside."

"Don't worry, we don't need keys. Get in the passenger side." Dean jumped into the driver's seat and quickly slammed his hand up into the dashboard under the steering wheel to find the wires needed to hotwire the car. In a moment, the car whirred to life and Dean was high-tailing it back to the motel.

Melody was hugging her chest with her arms and rocking back and forth mumbling, "Oh my God, oh my God."

"Are you hurt?"

The actress continued her rocking and mumbling, squeezing her eyes shut. Dean grabbed her shoulder and gave her a slight shake. "Melody, are you hurt?"

She finally got enough composure to look to Dean with wide eyes, "N-no. But I heard her in my head. She just kept saying 'mine.' What was that?"

"That was a vengeful spirit, just like you read about in the books. We are pretty sure that's what hurt the other actresses and we are trying to figure out who it was so we can destroy it. Did she look familiar to you?"

"No. Wait, spirits are real?"

"Sorry, but all those bad things from the Supernatural books that go bump in the night are real."

"I can't believe this," the actress breathed. "So you are what, kind of like the brothers from the books?"

"You could say that."


	6. Chapter 6

Sam headed out in the Impala with Harry in tow. He told the Ghostfacer that they would need to pretend to be FBI agents and asked if he had a suit he could change into for the interviews. Harry said that he did back at the Ghostfacer's headquarters, which turned out to be just the garage of a small house they were renting.

Sam's phone rang while he was sitting on the hood of the Impala waiting for Harry.

"Kevin?"

"Hey, Sam, I, uh… got some of the angel tablet translated. And I thought I should talk to you before I tell Dean what it says."

Kevin sounded nervous. This couldn't be good. Sam wondered what terrible news Kevin had for him. "Is this something that's going to help us get to Metatron?"

"No, Sam, it's about Castiel."

"Cas? How could the angel tablet be about him?"

Kevin coughed, "Well, I translated the part that contained the spell that Metatron used to make the angels fall. It seems like God created that spell as a way to join his two favored creations, humans and angels. The first part was to kill a Nephilim, which is the result of _unnatural_ love between a fully powered angel and a human. The second part was to collect the arrow of a cupid, because cupids create a _supernatural_ love between humans. The third part was to capture the grace of an angel… who is in love with a human. Complete those three tasks and angels will be cast out of heaven to live amongst humans so that love between an angel and a human will no longer be a supernatural occurrence."

Sam had gone quiet, processing everything that Kevin had just told him. Kevin took a breath and continued slowly, "Sam, you understand what this means? There is a reason that Metatron didn't take the grace of one of the thousands of angels already in heaven. It could only be an angel-"

"Who is in love with a human." Sam cut him off to finish his sentence. "Cas…"

"Right, the spell would only have worked if Castiel was in love with a human."

"Oh my God… Dean." Sam breathed.

"Yeah, he's gonna flip and I'm not looking forward to be the one to give him this news. I don't think he has any qualms about shooting the messenger."

"It's OK, Kevin, thanks. I'll take care of it. So, does the tablet say anything about how to reverse it so we can get Cas his grace back and get the angels back to Heaven?"

"I haven't gotten that far yet, but, Sam, it looks like this may have been what God intended."

Sam contemplated this a moment. Castiel. Leave it to their rebellious friend to once again change the course of history. The Apocalypse, Raphael, the Leviathan, and now the fall of the angels; this one angel had been the stimulus that changed the world several times over. And if Kevin is right, that angel is in love with his brother.

Sam was at a loss as to what to do with this information. In one day he had found out that Dean may be in love with the fallen angel and that Cas almost certainly is in love with Dean. On one hand, they both deserved love and happiness and, really, who else in the world could understand Dean like the angel who had seen him at his absolute worst and amazing best. On the other hand, Cas had a habit of leaving a trail of chaos in his wake and Sam really didn't want to see his brother become collateral damage.

But Cas was human now. Well, not really human. He would always be an angel, but without angelic grace, there was a smaller chance of Cas breaking the world again. And real bonus, he couldn't keep flying away and leaving Dean. His brother put up a pretty brave face, but Sam had watched Dean after Purgatory, Samandriel, Lucifer's crypt and when Cas disappeared to complete the angel trials. He was a wreck not knowing where Cas was or if he was alive. Sam thought that without his grace, Cas might just stay with Dean, become the steady presence in his life that Dean really needs.

The more Sam thought about the angel and the hunter, the more they started to make sense. Dean needed an equal, someone who was strong enough to deal with the life of a hunter but at the same time let Dean take care of them. Who on earth could fit that bill but Cas? He was pretty much the only person Sam had ever seen stand up to Dean the way he did. Cas could hold his own with the headstrong hunter and understand him like no one else. No other human could possibly comprehend their shared experiences in hell, heaven and purgatory. And since Cas' fall, he had watched his brother fuss over the fallen angel, grumbling the whole time. But Sam knew Dean better. He could tell that Dean thrived when he felt needed. Yeah, maybe this could work.

Sam was interrupted from his thoughts by Harry, who had changed and was ready to go interview the victims.

The first actress, Emily Stinson, was the one whose eyes had been burned. Sam was saddened by the sight of the beautiful woman sitting on the bed with thick bandages covering her eyes. The memory of seeing Pamela with her eyes burned out from seeing Castiel caused Sam to wince. He quickly collected himself, though, and introduced himself to the girl with as much empathy as he could in his voice.

"Hi Emily? I'm agent Hetfield and this is agent Smith. We are here from the FBI and wanted to ask you a few questions about your accident."

Harry was visibly nervous as he pulled out and flashed the fake badge that Sam had stuffed in his pocket. Sam tilted his head and pursed his lips at the man, who realized with obvious embarrassment, that he had just shown his badge to a blind woman.

"It wasn't an accident," the actress grumbled. "I was attacked. And I already told the police all about it. But they didn't listen."

"That's why we are here. Trust me, we will believe your story."

"Fine. We had been rehearsing a couple of the early scenes and I was watching Nick do this scene where Dean is at the hotel and he discovers the handprint on his shoulder. I remember feeling this really cold almost breeze from behind me and I got goosebumps all over. So I left the set and went to my dressing room to look for a sweater. I was so chilled, I just couldn't get warm. That's when I saw her."

"A woman?"

"Yes, but she was like see through. She looked like she was holding fire in her hands but it was blue. And she kept saying 'mine, mine, mine.' I didn't know what she wanted and I was terrified so I told her she could have whatever she wanted. Then she kind of blinked away and a second later was right in front of me. She…" The actress had to stop as her breath hitched and her hands began shaking.

Sam took one of her hands in his, soothing her, "It's OK, take your time."

Emily shook her head, "She put her hand right through my chest and it hurt so bad, like ice but it burned at the same time. I screamed and then everything went white. I woke up here and now I can't see. What happened?" Her voice rose up as she practically squealed the last sentence.

"That's what we are going to find out," Sam told her. "Get some rest. We are going to find out who did this to you and stop them."

The actress squeezed Sam's hand and gave him a weak thank you before they left her room.

The stories from the other two victims were very similar. All three incidents had happened on set after rehearsing a scene. The victim who was burned on her mouth said that she had just finished rehearsing Castiel's big barn entrance when she felt the temperature drop and saw the same spirit, who also repeated her 'mine' mantra before shoving her hand in her chest. The third victim, whose burns manifested on her hands, had been running lines with Nick his trailer. She saw the woman once she got back to her own dressing room. This was definitely starting to look like it had something to do with the movie, probably a jealous former actress.

Sam and Harry decided to head back to the motel to meet up with Dean and Cas to plan their next move. He hoped that Cas had some luck gathering specific information about the spirit so he could lay this one to rest.

* * *

Castiel traveled to the local library with Ed driving the Ghostfacer's van. He sat in the passenger's seat, stoic and stiff as he became increasingly uncomfortable with Ed's sideways glances. He could tell that Ed was suspicious of him.

"I assure you," he told Ed, "you are in no danger with me. I do not wish you any harm."

"Hey, I just don't trust anything supernatural. As a professional paranormal investigator you have to be on your guard at all times." Ed adjusted his glasses and gave Castiel another stink eye. After an uncomfortable pause, "So, angels are real, then? Like wings and feathers and floating on clouds angels?"

"Yes, angels are very real. However, we don't… float on clouds," Castiel said this last part with all of the newly acquired sarcasm skills he had picked up from Dean. "An angel's wings are part of our true form, not something that exists on this plane of existence. We use them to travel between the celestial dimensions of heaven and hell or across time."

"Wow, this is crazy, man. I didn't think angels were real."

Castiel sighed, wondering to himself why it was that most of the humans he had encountered believed in all things supernatural _except_ angels. Their existence is well documented in human literature, far more than most of the creatures that they hunt or in this case investigate.

"So, if you're an angel, and the Winchesters say they already stopped the apocalypse, what are you still doing hanging around with those douchenozzels? Don't you have angel-y things to do? I don't know, playing harps or something?"

Cas turned to face Ed, eyeing him suspiciously. "The Winchesters are my friends. As an angel, many of my powers came from my grace, which was recently stolen from me. I retained very few of my angelic powers so I can no longer serve in my garrison."

"Powers? Like what?"

"An angel's grace enables the power of flight across celestial planes and time, the ability to heal human wounds, angelic strength, and the ability to connect with a human's soul. These are just some of the things I can no longer do. I have, however, retained heightened senses and my angelic knowledge of the history of my father's creation and its physical laws as well as all languages. I believe that although I can no longer be useful as an angel, I can use this to assist the Winchesters."

Ed fumbled behind his seat for something. He retrieved a small recording device and brought it to his mouth. "OK, I need to record this. Testing one, two, three. OK. This is Ed Zeddmore, professional paranormal investigator with the Ghostfacers. I am sitting next to Castiel, who claims to be an angel of the lord. Castiel, can I record this interview?"

"No!"

"But it's for-"

"No!" Castiel grabbed the recording device from Ed's hand. "Dean said no recordings."

Ed mumbled something under his breath about angels being dicks and pouted the rest of the way to the library.

Once the arrived, the pair headed straight to the computers. Ed told Castiel, "Step aside. You may have angelic powers, but I have geek powers. Watch and learn."

Castiel watched for several minutes as Ed began to Google things like 'violent deaths at Acute Movie studio' before excusing himself. He approached a young librarian who was intently working on her computer. The girl had a pretty face and what Castiel thought was unusual hair. He knew that his father hadn't created humans with hot pink and yellow streaks in their hair but he smiled inward at their creativity in the many different ways they decorated their bodies.

When he said excuse me to get her attention, she hummed an acknowledgement to him while barely taking her eyes off the screen. "I am looking for assistance in finding out the history of a particular movie studio."

"Archive section," the librarian pointed to her left, "check in the…" she paused as she finally looked up and whispered a soft, "Oh." When she took in Castiel, her demeanor immediately changed. She offered him a broad smile and bit her bottom lip, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "Why don't I just… show you myself?"

She extended her hand out to him, "Hi, I'm Theresa."

"Thank you. The studio in question is Acute Movies." He followed the girl as she led the way to the necessary archives.

"Isn't that where they're filming the Supernatural movie? Oh my gosh! Are you involved in the movie?!"

Castiel remembered that Dean had taught him that he may need to lie to get information so he decided to try to answer the librarian in ways that would encourage her help. "Yes, I work there."

"Oh! I am a _huge_ fan of the books! Tell me, do they really have Nick Morgan playing Dean? I think he'd be perfect!"

Castiel nodded his acknowledgement as Theresa began pulling large books out from the shelves.

"Please tell me Cas is in the movie? He and Dean are my OTP."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand that reference."

The librarian looked at him and laughed, "Oh my God, funny! You must be a fan too if you are quoting Cas. You know, I always thought that Dean had feelings for him. It sucked that he never admitted it, though. Oh well, I guess that's what fanfiction's for, huh?"

Castiel squinted and tilted his head trying to figure out what the girl meant, "What do you mean, feelings?"

"Love! What else?" Theresa turned to him and handed him a box full of files to take to the table.

"You believe that Dean loves Castiel from what you read in the books?"

"Oh yeah! You know, I think the books got the ending wrong. The only reason Dean went to Lisa's is because he told Sam he would. I'm pretty sure if Cas had stayed, Dean would have been much happier with him. But Cas never stays, does he? Shame, because I think that's all Dean really wanted from him."

Castiel was confused by most of the new human feelings that he had been inundated with since losing his grace. But this one he was all too familiar with, both as a human and as an angel. This was regret tinged with guilt. Had he abandoned Dean when Dean really wanted him to stay? He had his duties in heaven, but maybe he shouldn't have left Dean for so long. Dean was also angry with him for staying in Purgatory and for leaving him in Lucifer's crypt. At the time he didn't have a true grasp on human feelings. He was just trying to do the right thing and couldn't understand why Dean was so upset. Now, without angelic grace to mute his feelings, he could truly feel the weight of the guilt sitting in his gut.

This librarian believed that Dean cared enough about him to want him to stay. But that was then. That was a different Castiel, one with power and grace, one who could help Dean and heal him when he was hurt. And now, he was the one coming to Dean for help. He showed up on Dean's doorstep empty handed, hungry, tired, and powerless. Even the clothes he was wearing now were given to him by Dean. Even if Dean had once wanted him to stay, now he felt like more of a burden than anything else. He felt that maybe if he could be of use on this case, it would prove to Dean that even without his grace, he could be of use to the hunter. Maybe he could earn back Dean's trust and if this librarian was right, maybe even more.

When Castiel and Theresa had a stack of large books and a box of files piled onto the table, they began to go through them, searching for police reports of accidents on set. After about ten minutes of searching, they were able to find the correct folder and records of two deaths. The first was in 1957. It was a man, a camera operator, who had fallen from a cherry picker during an overhead filming shot.

The second was in the year 1984 before the studio was sold to the new company. An actress named Betty Lange had been cast to play the mother in the movie Firestarter but she ended up being cut and hung herself on the set that night. This certainly fit the profile considering that she was an actress and the victims had been burned. The librarian was even able to help him find the location of her grave, which was just outside of Hollywood.

Theresa made him copies of the paperwork he requested and walked him back out to the main library, where Ed was still struggling to get any further than the studio's main propaganda page. Harry looked up when he saw Castiel with the pretty librarian.

"I have the information we need, we can go now," Castiel said to Ed.

Theresa put her hand on Castiel's arm and gave him a warm smile. "If you need anything else at all, please come back."

"Thank you for your assistance," Castiel said to her as she reluctantly pulled her hand back and went back to her work.

Ed gawped at the research that Castiel was able to come up with so quickly when he had so thoroughly failed. He huffed, "Well, not all of us look like we just stepped out of a CW program! We can't all just use our good looks and flirt to get help. Freaking Winchesters!"

Castiel called Dean when they had gotten back into the van, putting him on speaker to relay the information to him. "Dean, I believe we may have found the spirit and her burial location."

"Nice work, let's hear it."

"Her name is Betty Lange and she was an actress in a movie called Firestarter in 1984. I believe the movie title may be related to the victim's burns. The actress proceeded to kill herself on the set the day that she was cut from her role. She is buried at St. Luke's cemetery in north Hollywood."

"Perfect. Let's gank this bitch and get the hell out of here. Ed, you ever dug a grave up?"

"N-no." Ed looked nervously back and forth between the phone and Castiel.

"Tonight's your lucky night. You wanted to see what it's like to do what we do? Well tonight you are going to get your chance. Drop Cas off here at the Pine Meadows Motel off if I-75 and go get dressed for digging and bring shovels back with you." And with a click Dean was gone.

Ed turned to Castiel, wide eyed, "Did he say we are going to dig up a grave… tonight?"

"Yes. We will need to salt and burn the spirits remains."

Ed took a deep breath mumbling to himself, "You can do this. You are a professional. You are a Ghostfacer."


	7. Chapter 7

Dean was headed back to the hotel when his phone rang and Cas' number showed up on the caller ID. After a quick conversation, Dean was impressed to find out that Cas had a name, story, and burial location of the vengeful spirit. Not bad work for the angel's first time on his own. He gave instructions for Ed to drop off Cas with his research and go get changed for a good old fashioned exhumation and salt & burn. He had almost forgotten that Melody was still beside him on the edge of a complete breakdown until he heard her squeak when he told Ed to go get shovels for grave digging.

Shit. She went even whiter as she continued to hold her legs up with her arms wrapped around them in a vertical fetal position.

"D-did you say d-dig up a grave?" Melody was shaking and Dean knew he had to get her to calm down. Thankfully, they were just pulling into the motel parking lot so he turned off the car and walked around to help Melody out of the passenger seat. He had to unbuckle her and hold both of her hands to guide her into the room where he sat her down on a bed. When he tried to move away, though, she grabbed onto his jacket and forced him to sit down next to her.

"Hey, it's OK. We're professionals. We know who the spirit is and where she is buried. That means this is an easy hunt. We will get rid of her tonight. Spirits can't travel far from the place they died so you're safe here."

Melody grabbed the front of his jacket with both hands and buried her face in his chest, heaving deep breaths. Dean patted her back in soft soothing motions, feeling her breathing slowly returning to normal.

"This has to be a nightmare."

"I wish I could tell you that this is just a bad dream. But the truth is that there _are_ things that go bump in the night. The good news is that we know how to deal with a lot of them. Don't worry, you're safe with me."

Melody sat back up and looked up at Dean with those big baby blues. Damn, she was beautiful! "Don't let her hurt me." Melody whispered up at Dean.

The next thing Dean knew her lips were on his. Dean didn't know who had moved first but suddenly, he found himself kissing Melody. Her lips were soft and she tasted amazing and her body felt soft and pliant in his arms. So why didn't this feel right? Something was gnawing at his gut telling him this was wrong.

"Oh, my apologies." Dean heard Cas' voice and he immediately pulled away from Melody and locked eyes with the angel, who was standing in the doorway. Cas was actually blushing and he looked so flustered and was that hurt? Before Dean had a chance to react, Cas dropped the folders with his research and backed out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Dean immediately stood up to follow his friend, but Melody still had her hands firmly wrapped in his jacket and she panicked at the idea of Dean leaving her alone. "No! Don't leave," she shrieked and pulled him back down. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck, breathing heavily again at the idea of being left alone.

Shit! Dean knew this was the job and that his priority was to protect Melody and stay focused on the job. He couldn't be worried about Cas right now, but he was. He wanted to follow his friend and talk to him and for some crazy reason he felt like he needed to explain himself to Cas. Why did he feel like he had just been caught cheating? It wasn't like he had anything going on with Cas. He should be able to kiss whomever he wanted, right? Then why did he feel like such a jerk right now?

He took another moment to calm Melody back down, patting her back and telling her she was safe. This time, though, he made sure to keep his touches very platonic so they didn't get out of hand again. Finally, he took her by the shoulders and pulled her back, looking into her eyes and told her, "Melody, I need to find that guy. I won't leave you. I just need to see if he is outside. I'll be right here, OK?" He talked slowly and deliberately to keep her focused. She nodded and he pried himself from her vice grip on his jacket, but she still wasn't willing to let go of his hand.

Fine, he thought, and walked out into the parking lot with Melody still attached to look around for Cas, but he didn't see him anywhere. He knew the dude couldn't teleport anymore so he couldn't have gone too far. "Cas!" he called out to his friend, but there was no answer. Even if Cas was nearby, the sight of Dean standing here holding freaking hands with the actress who he had just been making out with would probably make the angel keep walking the other direction. Resigned, he turned to walk back into the motel room to try calling his friend, who of course wasn't answering.

Dean left a message on his voice mail, "Cas, pick up, man. I need to talk to you."

"Cas?" The actress recognized the name and looked at him quizzically.

Dean pulled his hand over his face, closing his eyes, wondering what he was going to tell Melody. She had already seen the spirit and had heard him use Castiel's real name. The easiest thing would be to just tell her the truth, but in her fragile state it might be a bit much for her to take in. He looked at her and damn if she wasn't doing Cas' head tilt and squint thing. Shit!

"Listen," he told her as he guided her back down to sit on the bed, "the Supernatural books are real. My name is Dean and that tall guy you met earlier in wardrobe? He's my brother Sam. All the crap in those books? It really happened."

The actress sat stock still with her mouth hanging open before she blinked a few times and whispered, "This can't be happening. It's just a movie, a story. This stuff isn't real. Oh my God, am I having a nervous breakdown?"

Dean thought the answer to that question was probably yes, but kept that to himself. "No. This is real and you know from the books that Sam and I can handle this. You're going to be fine."

Melody suddenly winced and her eyes widened in fear, "Oh wait! Are you like a crazed fan? Is this a Misery thing?"

Dean sighed, "You saw that ghost yourself. I'm telling the truth. Now, just take a breath 'cause I have to make a phone call."

"Wait… was that… Castiel? Oh no! I feel terrible. You have to call him."

Dean sighed, relieved that Melody was finally catching on and getting with the program. He tried Cas' number again, but the phone had been turned off. He left several more messages, each increasingly frustrated until finally Dean yelled, "Fine! If you want to be a bitch about this than we'll just finish this case without you. Not like we've never had to do _that_ before!" Dean paused before taking a deep breath and finishing the message quietly, "Just come back, OK?"

* * *

Castiel knew that he had no right to be upset when he walked in and saw Dean kissing that actress. He had seen Dean kiss many girls before. He had many times watched, silently cloaked, from Lisa's back yard as Dean would kiss the woman who shared his bed. He even remembered that pang of regret that he felt when he saw Dean kiss Anna goodbye. But that was when he had his grace.

All of these awful human feelings were so much more manageable when he could just mute them with his grace. He didn't have to feel the tingling in his fingers and toes that accompanied fear. He hadn't felt the hot rush of blood to his cheeks when he was embarrassed or flattered. He didn't know the fluttering feeling in his belly that he got when Dean was kind to him. He hadn't felt the warm roll of desire in his groin when Dean would step out of the shower wrapped only in a towel. And he certainly hadn't felt the stomach lurch and nausea that could only be labeled jealousy and hurt.

How did humans manage all of these emotions every day? He had never realized just how connected human bodies were to their emotions. Now that he was flooded with them for the first time in his exceptionally long life, it was too much. They drained him and confused him and he just wanted his grace back so that he could stop being so overwhelmed with all of these feelings.

But then there was that one feeling that he really didn't want to go away. It could best be described as a warm hum that he would feel throughout his whole body. The first time he felt it was when Dean had opened the door to the bunker and seen him standing there. He was afraid that Dean was going to turn him away, but instead, the hunter had taken two large strides forward and pulled him into a tight hug. The warmth had flooded Castiel, so much so that his knees nearly buckled with the unexpected feeling. Dean had felt him sway and assumed that it was from exhaustion and hunger and had immediately ushered him into his home for rest and sustenance.

He had felt it again when Dean had pulled him into the bathroom and taught him how to shave. Dean's laughter and genuine affection filled Castiel up with that warmth. It felt like trust, companionship, protectiveness, sacrifice, and respect. The feeling had started to come over him more and more since he had lost his grace until it had become a low hum that pulsed under his skin whenever he was with Dean. Castiel may not have had experience with emotions, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that this feeling was love.

An idea dawned on Castiel. He may not have angelic grace to mute feelings, but he knew what Dean would do to numb himself when he didn't want to feel. He would drink. So Castiel headed for the nearest bar.

He knew that Dean drank beer with Sam when he just wanted to relax and he drank whisky by himself when he didn't want to feel. Castiel sat down at the bar and ordered whisky. The last time he had consumed this drink he had an angel's grace so it had little effect on him at all. He fondly remembered drinking with the Winchester's friends and felt sad at the loss of the women who had welcomed him so graciously.

This time was different. The drink burned his tongue and throat going down and filled him with a false heat. He hated it, but he wanted to chase that numbness, to bury the hurt and confusion and jealousy that were just too much. Castiel ordered another shot, and another, and another before his eyes began to feel heavy and his head began to feel light.

"Drowning your sorrows?" Castiel heard a low voice beside him say. He looked over and found that he was sitting next to a handsome man with green eyes.

"I do not believe that there is enough liquid in these small glasses to drown in. I am simply imbibing large quantities of alcohol to mask my feelings."

The man gave him a quizzical look before he smiled and lifted his own drink to his lips, "Join the club. So what's your trouble? Money, family, love?"

"Love, def'ntly love," Castiel slurred. Woah, he hadn't realized the alcohol was having an effect on him and he shook his head a little to clear the fog.

"Yeah, me too. I spent the day missing my ex-girlfriend."

"I am new to dealing with these feelings. How does one make them go away?"

The man turned and looked right into Castiel's eyes. "Me? I like to have mind blowing sex with a practical stranger."

"Oh," said Castiel as he backed a little away from the man.

"Hey, easy there, tiger. Been there, done that. I just came from a nice romp in the sack."

"If sex truly helps you, why are you still here drinking?"

"Touché!" The man grinned at Castiel and took another drink, "So how 'bout you? The whisky working?"

"Not really. I still feel just as bad, but now my body and mind feel sluggish on top of that."

The man laughed. "So tell me, what's your trouble?"

"I believe I am in love. But I fear that love could never be returned. I am… not what I used to be. I can't be of use like I was before."

"Of use? Man, love isn't about what you can do for someone. It's just about being there. If a girl just wants you around for what you can do for her, she's probably a gold-digger. You shouldn't settle for that. So what's this girl asking you for?"

Castiel thought about that. What _had_ Dean asked him for? Now that he thought about it, Dean hadn't asked for his help because of his angelic powers in a very long time. Not since Dick Roman had Dean asked him for anything at all… except to come to him, to stay with him, and to watch out for Sam. Dean had sought him out in Purgatory, knowing that he may not be in fighting condition. He had invited him to hunt with the Winchesters, but hadn't asked him to use his powers. In fact, it was Castiel who had asked for Dean's help repeatedly since Purgatory – help with Samandriel, in Lucifer's crypt, after Crowley had shot him in the stomach, and with the supposed angel trials. And Dean had helped him every time, asking only for one thing in return… for Castiel to stay.

"He isn't asking anything from me. I believe Dean just wants me to stay with him."

"Dean, huh? What a coincidence. I'm playing a Dean in a movie called Supernatural. Name's Nick Morgan." The man held out a hand to formally introduce himself to Castiel.

"I'm Ca- Kirk." Castiel shook the man's hand, remembering at the last minute to use the fake name that Charlie had picked out for him.

"Well, Kirk, sounds like maybe your Dean isn't so bad."

What if this man was right, that loving someone meant that you just wanted them to be there with you? That's all Dean had asked of him. Maybe the loss of his grace didn't matter to Dean. What if the librarian was right, and Dean really did love him, even still? Castiel began to feel something new, something that felt a little like a flutter high in his chest. He was pretty sure this was hope.


	8. Chapter 8

By the time Sam and Ed arrived back at the motel, Dean was fuming. He had tried calling Castiel several times and couldn't get the fallen angel to pick up the phone. Sam took one look at his brother and knew something was wrong. Dean was like a band pulled too tight, ready to snap at any moment. Sam approached his brother cautiously, knowing his brother's body language. Dean was ready to blow.

"Hey, Dean, is everything OK?"

"Fine! Same old crap. Cas has up and disappeared again."

Melody chimed in, "I'm so sorry, it's my fault."

"It's not your fault, damn guy's never been able to stay put," Dean told her.

"Dean, what happened?" Sam asked.

"Nothing! Can we drop this?" Dean growled.

"I kissed Dean and Cas saw and he left. I'm so sorry!" Melody blurted out. Dean turned on her and gave her a glare that caused her to immediately shrink back and sink onto the bed.

"Really, Dean?" Sam sighed, remembering what Kevin had told him about Castiel. "Can I talk to you for a moment… in private?" Sam pulled his brother outside the motel room door by the elbow.

"What, Sam? Cas is fine. He does this all the time."

Sam shifted on his feet, running through scenarios in his head of how to tell Dean about Cas' feelings. "Listen, I was talking to Kevin earlier and he translated some more of the angel tablet."

"Great, anything about how we can gank Metatron?"

"Not exactly, he translated the spell Metatron used to make the angels fall." Sam paused, planning his next words carefully.

"And?!"

"And, the spell, its purpose seems to be to join angels and humans."

"No shit! A little too close for comfort if you ask me. Last thing we needed was a bunch of angels walking around down here."

"Right, well, all three parts of the spell required love involving humans and angels."

"OK?"

"Well, there was the Nephilim, which is the product of love between an angel and a human. And the cupid's bow, which is an angel initiating love between two humans. The third part is to take the grace of an angel… who is… in love… with a human."

"So?"

Sam sighed, "Think about it, Dean. Metatron couldn't have taken just anyone's grace. He needed Castiel's." Sam watched his brother as the recognition of what he way saying sunk in. The blood drained from his face as he went pale and sunk back against the brick wall of the motel.

Dean put is face in his hands, "Dammit, Cas!"

"Dean, do you-"

Dean put up his hand. "No! I'm gonna stop you right there, Sam. We're not talking about this. We've got a corpse to burn and no time for this drama."

Sam made a face but he knew when a conversation with Dean was over. He crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the sidewalk post, giving his brother the space he needed.

* * *

When Harry walked in the room behind Sam the last thing he expected to see was Melody Waters. He had seen all of her movies. Granted, most of them were of the B variety, but she had done several sci-fi films and anime voice overs and was pretty well known across geekdom. He was definitely crushing.

He tried to pay attention to what was going on with Sam and Dean but thought that he was missing something important. So the angel saw Dean kissing Melody, so what? Maybe he was upset because it was a religion thing? Curious, he thought he would keep an ear to the ground. Castiel was, after all, a supernatural creature and they were not to be trusted. But Sam had pulled Dean out of the room, where he couldn't eavesdrop on their conversation.

Now he was alone with none other than Melody Waters! OK, Spangler, keep it together and be cool.

"So… loved you in Octocobra."

Melody just looked at him suspiciously.

"I'm Harry Spangler, professional paranormal investigator. I have my own show. It's called the Ghostfacers."

"OK," Melody said noncommittally, patronizing yet another geek with a fanboy crush.

"So… you, ah, like ghost hunters, do you?"

"No," she said flatly.

"But I-"

"No."

"Oh. OK. That's cool. Yeah. I totally have a girlfriend. We have sex and everything."

"That's… nice," Melody breathed, keeping an eye on the door as if she could will Dean to return if she just glared hard enough. Thankfully, Dean and Sam chose that moment to walk back in the room interrupting Harry's awkward advances.

Dean was all business as he showed Sam the paperwork that Cas had dropped. He had copies of newspaper and trade magazine clippings and reports about the suicide as well as the location of her burial. Castiel had really taken care of everything that they needed. If all went well, they could have this body burned and the case finished before sunrise.

Dean laid out the plan for the night. "OK, Harry, you and Ed are going to help us salt and burn the bones. Ed should be back here soon. Call him and tell him to bring working clothes for you." Harry nodded and walked off to call his friend. "Melody, you should be safe here. We'll put down a salt ring that the spirit can't pass through. Just stay in the ring and you'll be fine."

Melody's eyes grew large again, "You're going to leave me here… alone?!"

Sam noticed the panic in her voice and turned to Dean, "It's OK. You stay with her. I'll take Harry and Ed to the boneyard with me."

"I can't leave you with these two knuckleheads."

"It's fine," smiled Sam. "It'll be nice to have the help. I think it will be good for them go get a taste of what we do. Maybe then they won't be so eager to go around poking at dead things."

"Fine, just call me as soon as it's done."

"And Dean, maybe you could try to find Cas."

* * *

Dean did try to find his friend. He knew he couldn't have gone too far without transportation or his wings but this was still Hollywood and there were a thousand places that Cas could be. With Melody in tow, he checked with the motel desk clerk who hadn't seen anyone fitting Cas' description. They checked in several burger joints that were in walking distance to the motel but still no Cas. They even checked a few bars, but Dean didn't have any pictures of his friend, something he decided he was going to remedy once the angel showed his face again. There were a lot of men that fit Dean's description of a 6 foot Caucasian with dark hair and blue eyes. One bartender said he saw someone like that but he was with another man and they left a little while ago. Dean knew that Cas didn't know anyone in Hollywood so that certainly couldn't have been him.

Resigned, he and Melody picked up some carry out and a case of beer and headed back to the motel to wait for Sam's call. After dinner, Dean grabbed a bottle and went outside and took a seat on the Impala. The waiting sucked. He was waiting for Sam and waiting for Cas and stuck here with nothing to kill and it was making him antsy.

Dean pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the blank screen, hoping that there would be a new message since the last time he checked five minutes ago. It was still blank. When he heard a door close, he looked up and saw Melody walking towards him with a couple of bottles of beer in her hands. She perched next to him on the car and handed him one of the beers.

"Are you OK?" she asked him.

"Fine."

"I really am sorry about what happened. I had no idea."

"Of course you didn't. It's cool. You know, what you said about Cas in the books?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't know… he… you know, felt like that. And he's different now. A lot has happened since the showdown with Lucifer. Cas doesn't have his grace anymore."

"Oh, that's terrible."

"Yeah. Sucks 'cause he can't hear me anymore. I used to be able to just pray and at least I knew if he was alive he could hear me. Now, he isn't even answering his phone. And he's new to being kind of human. I just hope he's OK."

"He'll be back." Melody patted Dean's knee. "Doesn't he always come back?"

Dean just tilted his head and took a swig of his beer. Yeah, Cas did have a way of always coming back. Every time he thought his friend was dead, he would show up again to shock the hell out of him. Just thinking about all of those times – Raphael, Lucifer, the Leviathan, Purgatory, Naomi, Crowley, Metatron. Damn! Was there anyone that hadn't tried to kill his friend?

And now he had confirmation that Cas wasn't just coming back out of some sense of duty, he really did love Dean. Metatron's spell wouldn't have worked otherwise. Dean had always known there was something between them. Castiel had once called it a profound bond. But he was always able to write it off, telling himself that Cas was his guardian and that's all. He also knew that he had been lying to himself. He thought he first realized that there was more to this friendship when he picked up Cas' soaked trench coat out of that reservoir. The loss had felt deeper than just a friend and Dean had been struggling to understand that feeling ever since.

* * *

Sam grinned inwardly as he leaned back against a grave marker, legs casually crossed out in front of him with his hands deep in his pockets. He couldn't help it. The sight of Ed and Harry trying to dig up a grave was too funny. The Ghostfacers had been put to work on grave digging duty and after an hour of non-stop shoveling of the hard-packed earth, they were barely knee deep in a little mess of a circle covered head to toe in mud. Their little hole was only about three feet in diameter and the two men kept bumping into each other, grumbling and arguing about where each man's side ends.

Breathing hard, Harry looked up at Sam, "You… (breath) have got to… (breath) be kidding me! How (breath) do you do this?"

Sam smirked down at the man (feeling a bit soulless again doing so) and answered, "Practice. I dug my first grave when I was eleven. Dean and I can knock one of these out in a few hours now." Sam took pity on them and picked up a shovel himself. "Look, you're standing too close to one another. All you're doing is getting in each other's way. Here, you can each take a corner and I will work from this side."

After 30 minutes or so, the men were all ready for a break. Harry stepped out of his little hole, that was a crumbling mess of a mud puddle and looked over at Sam's perfectly rectangular pit and cried, "Aw come on! Nobody digs a perfect freaking hole like that with just a shovel!"

Sam looked at his work and just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Ed was leaning over grabbing his knees and fishing in his pockets for his inhaler. After sucking down a deep breath of the medication his breathing was beginning to settle down so he tried to stand back up and cried out, "Cramp! Cramp! Oh my back. I can't stand up!"

Harry rushed to his friend's side and grabbed his shoulders. He turned Ed, putting his body between Sam and Ed's so that he could whisper to his friend without Sam seeing. "C'mon, Ed, you can do this. Did Frodo stop at the foot of Mount Doom? No. We are Ghostfacers, we face the ghosts when the other's will not."

Ed looked up at him and feebly sang, "Ghost… Ghostfacers. We face the faces, we face the dead."

"Right, now you've got to suck it up, 'cause we can't let Thor over there think we can't do this job."

"You're right," Ed nodded enthusiastically, "You're right." He forced himself to stand up, wincing and groaning with the pain.

"We'll go see Dr. Goldberg tomorrow."

"Yes… chiropractor," groaned Ed and Harry dramatically picked up his shovel and put it back in his partner's hand.

"Let's dig!"

Finally, after several hours of digging and the sunrise threatening to expose them soon, their shovels hit something solid. They had reached the coffin. Harry and Ed scrambled out of the hole while Sam lifted open the lid of the box. Harry took one look at the rotted corpse and began dry-heaving behind the grave marker. Sam looked up and commanded, "Ed, go get the salt and gasoline from the van."

While Ed was gone Sam climbed out of the ground and went to Harry, placing a hand on his back. "You did good. We're almost there. We just burn her bones and you have just eliminated a vengeful spirit."

Harry gave Sam a weak smile, "This is a lot harder than it sounds in those books."

Sam huffed a small laugh, "You have no idea."

Sam let Ed do the honors of throwing the match into the coffin and the men stood by and silently watched the corpse burn, freeing her spirit from the earth. Sam called Dean and gave him the all clear. Dean walked over to the actress sleeping on one of the beds in the motel and gave her a small shake to wake her and let her know it was over. She was safe. They would take her back to the set once Sam returned and she could go back to her normal life.

Now they just needed to find Cas and get out of this crazy town.


	9. Chapter 9

Castiel still hadn't returned to the motel by the time Sam returned and cleaned up. Dean wanted Sam to stay and rest after a long night, but Sam was insistent that they get Melody back to her normal life and find Castiel. But neither brother had any idea where to start looking. The guy had no grace, no money and apparently a dead cell phone. Their only thought was that maybe he had gone back to the movie set. Yeah, Dean thought, he could see Cas thinking that he still had a 'job' and hoped that he would find him screwing in light bulbs or something. He actually smiled at the image of Cas, the angel, putting in a light bulb and standing back to say 'let there be light.'

Once they arrived back on the set, Melody gave Dean a huge hug and thanked him for everything, even offering to help try to find Cas, but Dean was pretty sure it was best if she was out of the picture so he let her turn around and head back to her dressing room to get ready for the day's rehearsals.

"Hey, you, big guy!" Someone was hollering over to them.

Sam and Dean both turned towards the voice, "You, with the long hair," said a short greying man who looked like he was in charge. Sam raised his eyebrows and pointed a finger at his chest. "Yeah, you. Come here, we need you."

Sam and Dean walked cautiously towards the man who told Sam, "One of our leads hasn't shown up yet and we've got to get this blocking together this morning. You're about the same size as Lance. Can you just stand in on this scene? Just for blocking, camera angles, and lighting."

Sam looked over at his brother with a helpless look on his face. Not this again! They last time they had been forced into acting it was quite the disaster. "You've gotta be kidding me," said Dean, "you are hunter pretending to be a crew member, pretending to be yourself, as a hunter, on a movie about you as a hunter, based on books about us hunting! Freaking supernatural inception!"

A woman with a headset on her head came over and grabbed Sam by the shoulder and began shoving him towards the set.

"Go get 'em, Sammy," Dean laughed, thrilled that he didn't have to be a part of the acting this time around.

The woman led Sam to a set which was a warehouse with an actor tied to a chair in the middle of a Devi's Trap, and a dark-haired actress standing next to him. She handed him a piece of paper and lined him up against some pieces of tape that had been stuck to the floor opposite the man in the chair.

Sam took in the scene. Oh no! The last thing he ever wanted to do was relive the moment when Dean found out he was using his powers. He looked over to his brother and could see the memory was a raw wound for him as well as Dean scowled at the scene in front of him.

"OK, start at the top," yelled the man who was obviously in charge. Sam assumed he must be the director.

The actress playing Ruby waked over to him and grabbed the paper from him, turned it over so that it was upright and pointed to where he should begin with his lines. "You don't have to move around much," she said, "just read the lines. They just want to get the markers down."

Sam gulped and nodded, eyes wide as she stepped back onto her piece of tape and smiled at him. He looked down at the paper where she had pointed and groaned, "Where's Lilith?"

"Kiss my ass!" spat the actor tied to the chair.

"I'd watch myself if I were you." Sam read the words on the page and felt his stomach turn at the real life memories that it brought back. The paper had a little icon that he didn't understand until fake Ruby hissed at him to move over to her side. God, he hated this acting stuff.

"Why?" said the demon actor, "Because you're Sam Winchester, Mr. Big Hero? And yet here you are, slutting around with some demon. Real hero!"

Sam rocked nervously back and forth on his feet as he tried to remember how this went back when he and Dean had gotten stuck in that parallel universe. Don't look at the camera, look anywhere but the camera. Act natural. Act natural. Just as Sam was about to tell the director to shove it and walk away, everyone froze as they heard a blood curdling scream.

Sam and Dean both sprang to action, racing towards the sound. It was a woman, standing outside of the makeup trailer crying, "He's dead! It's Lance, he's dead!"

The Winchesters looked at each other and at the same time said, "Lance?"

Sam was the first one to get to the door of the trailer and he winced at the sight in front of him. Lance was splayed out over one of the chairs with his head back at an odd angle. But the gruesome part was that he wasn't wearing a shirt (as usual) and his torso was covered in angry red burns that were blistered and bleeding.

Dean was right behind him, "What the hell, Sam? I thought you burned her bones!"

"We did. We must have missed something, something with her DNA on it."

"Damn it! She died almost 30 years ago. How the hell are we going to find it?"

"Maybe it wasn't her. What if there is another spirit?" Sam turned around and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to go over all of the evidence that Cas had found in his mind.

The director and several other people who looked important had now arrived at the makeup trailer and were arguing amongst themselves about the tragedy.

"Damn, we've lost four actors already on this movie. What do we have to do to keep our cast?" The director was talking to a tall bald man in a suit who Sam assumed was probably a producer.

"OK, maybe we can work this to our advantage. Spooky occurrences on the set of new horror film?" He looked over to a woman who was standing next to him with a notepad and a pen and expression of horror on her face. "Get an anonymous tip to the top rags. This may give us some much needed publicity."

The assistant nodded and replied sheepishly, "Um… do you think… maybe we should call the police… first?"

"Right, right, of course! Go ahead and call them first. But make sure you get that tip to the tabloids." The man turned back to the director and asked, "So who's your backup? Is this going to put us over budget?"

Dean had heard enough. He turned to Sam, "If this thing isn't gone, we need to get to Melody. She could still be in danger. Come on, we need a new plan."

Just then Dean's phone rang and he saw that it was Charlie. He answered, putting her on speaker phone for he and Sam to both hear.

"Oh my God," she screamed, "is it true what happened to Lance?"

Dean looked incredulously at Sam, "Charlie, how the hell do you even know about that? It happened like five minutes ago?!"

"News travels fast in the SPN family."

"The what?" Dean asked.

"Supernatural fandom," she answered casually. "So it's true? He's dead? What happened?"

Sam responded, "We aren't sure. All the rest of the victims were burned in one place but left alive. Lance was burned all over and he's dead. It's different from the spirit's normal MO."

"Oh, that's terrible. According to all the blogs, he and Nick had incredible chemistry, almost like, Wincest levels - oh" Charlie caught herself as soon as she realized what she had said.

Dean was losing patience, "What are you talking about? What's Wincest?"

"Oh, God. Sorry. It's the name that the Sam slash Dean fans use for-"

"Stop right there, Charlie," Dean grumbled, "we know about that and really want to just forget that it exists."

Charlie hummed her agreement and mumbled, "Yeah, Destiel has a way better chance of becoming canon."

"What was that?"

"Oh, you heard that? It's… the uh, Dean and Castiel slash. It's kind of taken over the SPN fandom."

Dean groaned, how was it that everyone seemed to have figured out this… _thing_… between him and Cas long before the two of them?

Sam noticed his brother's reaction and took over the conversation, "Listen, Charlie, we burned the corpse last night but the spirit seems to still be around. Were you able to come up with anything more on your side?"

"Nothing new, but I will dig a little deeper. Hey guys, be careful. This spirit seems tricky."

"Got it. Thanks, Charlie."

As the brothers turned to head to Melody's trailer, Ed, Harry came running up to them with Maggie, Ed's sister, along as well. Sam asked, "What are you still doing here?"

"We had to come back to get our stuff. We had left some of our equipment in a locker. We just heard about Lance. I thought once the body was burned the spirit would be gone?" Ed questioned the brothers.

Sam answered him, "Yeah, that's normally how it works. There is either some of her DNA left somewhere around here that we weren't aware of or we burned the wrong body."

Ed groaned, "No way! I threw out my back for nothing?!"

Maggie looked appalled, "Ewww, you desecrated a grave for nothing."

Ed turned to Harry and Maggie, "You know what this means? We still have a chance to get it on film. Get the cameras ready!"

Dean questioned Ed, "Hey, easy there, Spielberg. This thing's still very dangerous. When you and Cas were at the library, did you find any other violent deaths on record?"

Ed looked down, embarrassed, "I don't know. I wasn't with Castiel when he found that stuff. I was working the computers while he went off with the hot librarian… that couldn't keep her eyes off of him," Ed grumbled, rather bitterly.

"What?!"

"Yeah, all Castiel had to do was flirt with that girl and she was more than willing to help out." Ed knew he was exaggerating about the flirting part, but he was still pretty pissed off that the angel was able to get the information they needed when he had failed so miserably and that librarian _was_ really cute.

"Flirt? Cas?" OK, Dean had seen that girl from yesterday flirting with Cas, but he was pretty sure that his friend had no idea how to flirt back.

Sam smirked and snorted a laugh, "Didn't know he had it in him."

Dean stayed suspiciously silent and Sam had to turn his face and bite cheek to keep from audibly laughing at the look on his brother's face.

As they headed towards Melody's dressing room, the group passed through a makeshift corridor with multiple doors on either side. Dean guessed this was for a hotel scene but something at the end of the hall had him stop in his tracks. Cas was sitting on a bench next to an exhausted looking Nick and he had his arm around the actor's shoulder. Sam slowly looked at Dean, keeping wisely quiet about the situation.

Dean stomped up to the two men, "What the hell, Cas?"

Both men looked up at Dean who noticed that Nick looked like he was crying. His voice shaky and panicked when he managed, "I saw her… but she's dead. How can it be her?"

"You saw the ghost?"

"I saw my girlfriend!" Nick cried. "M-Meghan died over a year ago! How can she be here?!"

"Woah, hold on a second. The spirit we ganked died thirty years ago. Are you telling me the spirit here is actually your girlfriend?"

Castiel chimed in, "I believe we were mistaken about Betty Lange being the vengeful spirit. It seems that this ghost is here because of Nick. She burned the first actress' eyes after she was watching a shirtless scene with Nick in it. The second actress was burned on the mouth when she had kissed Nick after rehearsals. And the third actress was burned on her hands after she and Nick had been…" Castiel squirmed nervously.

"Second base, OK? We had just had a bit of a grope before she was hurt!" Nick admitted as he bent over and groaned into his hands.

"OK," said Dean, "The spirit is jealous of the actresses playing your love interest in the movie because you were fooling around with them. So what about Lance?"

Nick looked up at him and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.

"Aw, come on! Lance too?"

"What?! Have you seen that guy? He's freaking hot!" Nick said defensively.

Sam sighed, "So, why the change in MO? Why did she kill this time?"

"I guess jealousy? Lance and I went… a lot further than second base. He's the only one I actually had sex with."

"Well, there's a first," quipped Dean, "Someone has sex with Sam and _he_ dies."

Sam huffed and looked at Dean with a bitch face that could probably kill and pointedly ignored the smirk on Dean's face to ask the actor, "Nick, how did she die?"

"She died in a house fire," he said before putting his face in his hands and letting out a soft sob.

While Sam was talking to Nick, Dean looked at Cas, who was still sitting there with his arm around the handsome actor. This guy was obviously a man whore and here was Cas, sitting with the entire length of his body pressed against the guy with his arm slung around him. And how did they even know each other? Dean suddenly felt a sick twist of jealousy to his gut. He had an insane urge to walk over and physically separate the two men. Luckily, Sam's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry," said Sam with as much sympathy as he could, "the only way to stop her is to burn her remains. Can you tell us where she is buried?"

"There are no remains. There was nothing left after our house burned to the ground."

Perfect, thought Dean. Of course there are no remains! When was the last time they had a simple salt and burn go right?! "There's got to be something. Do you have anything with her DNA?"

"I have a locket with her hair, its back in my dressing room."

"That's it," said Sam, "come on, we need to burn it to stop her."

Nick slumped over and put his face into his hands. "I can't believe this. I loved her, she would never hurt anyone. How can this be happening?" he asked Castiel.

Castiel gave his shoulder a little pat, "Sometimes when a person dies in a violent way, their spirit doesn't move on. But the longer the spirit is without a body and a soul, the more it becomes distorted. It stops thinking like a human with a soul and can only feel the pain and loss of its current state. It isn't really Meghan any more. If we burn her remains, we will release her spirit. She will no longer be bound to this earth and in pain." Nick nodded at Castiel and said that he would get the locket.

Dean watched this interaction with interest. Cas was surprisingly good at this and Dean would probably commend the guy for his work on this case if he weren't too busy fuming over how chummy these two seemed to be. What the hell? Why was he acting all jealous with Cas? Well, just in the last two days he has seen that Katie girl give Cas her number, heard about the flirting with the librarian, and now watched Nick huddled way too close to Cas. Shit! Was there anyone who didn't want to get in the angel's pants?

And why did it matter to him? Cas was a grown man, and pretty much human now, too. Shouldn't he be able to get a little action? The problem was there was something niggling at the back of his mind that said that if Cas was going to be with anyone it should be him. He was the one with whom the angel had a profound bond, right? He knew it was kind of rotten of him to want Cas for himself though he was too chicken shit to do anything about it. Damn it! What if it's too late? What if he was too blind about his and Cas' feelings and he had missed his chance with Cas, who seemed to be getting along a little too well with the actor, who Dean had to admit was pretty damn hot.

When Dean couldn't hold back an longer, he stepped forward and grabbed Cas by the elbow growling through his teeth that he needed to talk to him… in private. Castiel just nodded and followed Dean over to the side, leaving Sam to deal with Nick and the three stunned Ghostfacers.

"What the hell's going on, Cas? What are you doing with your arm around Nick?"

"He was upset by his encounter with the spirit of his girlfriend. I have seen Sam put an arm around victims to console them and thought that was an appropriate action to take given the scenario. He seemed comforted by it."

"And you just took off last night without a word and today I find you BFF with some guy?"

Castiel tilted his head and squinted at Dean as if trying to analyze the hunter's thoughts. "Dean, you were kissing Melody. I thought it best to… give you privacy."

Dean sighed, "Cas, I wasn't…" but he didn't know how to continue. He was kissing Melody, but how was he supposed to explain how wrong it felt?

"I chose to follow your example so I went to a bar where I drank large quantities of whisky and met Nick."

"Wait, you got drunk and met him at the bar last night? Shit! Cas, did you spend the night with him?"

"Yes," said Castiel matter-of-factly.

Dean was struck dumb. He had to wrap his head around the idea that Cas (his Cas) went home with another guy last night. Shit! He had blown it. He had ignored his feelings for his friend for too long and now Cas went out and found someone else. And did it have to be the actor who was playing him of all people?! This guy obviously didn't care about any of the people he had been screwing around with – several actresses and Lance too. Cas deserved so much more. Cas deserved someone who wanted just him and wanted to stay with him and take care of him. Dean realized that he wanted to be that person for Cas.

He looked at the angel who was standing in front of him, head tilted and damn blue eyes wide as he waited for Dean to respond. And yeah, he realized, he did love Castiel. OK, this was it. He decided to bite the bullet and just tell Cas that he wanted him. He was Dean freaking Winchester. He had been to hell & purgatory, stopped the apocalypse, and faced a thousand monsters bigger and badder than most people could imagine. Certainly he had the balls to just take the one step forward that would close the gap between him and Cas.

But because the universe seemed to have a vendetta against him, at that moment, the temperature dropped and Dean could see his breath and hear the shrieks of the terrified Ghostfacers behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

Dean turned around just in time to see Ed and Harry fighting with each other over their backpack of supplies as the spirit materialized right in front of them. The men grabbed onto each other and stepped backwards, running into Maggie, who was hiding behind her camera. All three Ghostfacers screamed and ran through one of the hallway doors.

The spirit had her back to Sam, who picked up Nick by the collar and shoved him down the hallway away from the ghost, a step behind as he pulled out his handgun that would probably be useless against this foe. The spirit of Meghan whipped around and locked eyes with Castiel. Shit, thought Dean, Cas is her next victim. He grabbed Castiel by his sleeve and pulled him through another one of the hallway doors, shutting it behind him and leaning up against it.

"We've got to get to Ed and Harry. They have salt in their bag. And that bitch is coming for you," he yelled, pointing at Castiel.

A door opened to his left and Sam and Nick burst through from the fake hallway behind them.

"Sam, we've gotta get the salt and iron from Harry's bag!"

"Right," said Sam. "Cas, can you take Nick to his trailer and get that locket? Dean and I will go after the bag."

"Of course," nodded Castiel.

Dean opened the door behind him to find that the coast was clear in the hallway, but no Ghostfacers. He could hear them arguing from the other side of the faux wall, though. He burst out into the hallway, followed by Sam and ran towards the door he had seen them go through. Behind them, Castiel turned to head towards Nick's trailer but Meghan blinked to appear in front of him, pushing him back into Nick and the two men ran through the door, following Sam and Dean out into the hallway.

Dean found the Ghostfacers, huddled together with their backs to the wall on the other side of the door. Harry was digging through the bag as Ed was narrating to the camera Maggie was holding up. He was breathing heavily, taking in huge gulps of air between words. "We (breath) are here at (breath) the set of (breath) the Supernatural movie (breath). The ghost of (breath) Nick Morgan's dead girlfriend (breath) has already murdered (breath) once and is now (breath) on the rampage (breath) for another victim."

Finally, Harry found Ed's inhaler in the backpack and shoved it into his friend's hand. Ed took a large drag of the medicine and put his hand over his chest. Just then, Castiel and Nick burst through another of the doors to join the group. "Meghan's spirit blocked our way to Nick's trailer. I believe we may need a weapon," Castiel explained.

Sam pulled Harry up from where he was squatting on the ground, so he could rummage through the backpack for the salt and iron. But Harry was clutching the backpack to his chest with a death grip. Sam growled for Harry to give him the bag but before he could wrench it from the smaller man's grip he was shoved forward into Harry, crushing him against the wall and sending both men crumbling to the ground. It was the spirit and she had reappeared and was shoving everyone back.

"Sam!" Dean yelled to his brother.

"I'm OK!" Sam yelled back and turned to Harry to retrieve a weapon but it was too late. Ed, Harry, Maggie, Castiel and Nick had all scattered like roaches through the various doors back into the hallway.

"Godammit!" Dean yelled. "We're in a freaking Scooby Doo chase!" He hauled Sam up by the arm and they ran through the door back into the hallway in just time to be thrown up against a wall with Nick, Castiel and Ed, frozen by the spirit standing in the middle of the room. Everyone was incapacitated, staring in horror at the spirit slowly drifting towards Nick.

Meghan had once been lovely. She was tall and lean with long raven hair and legs that went on forever. The fire that had taken her life happened at night while she was sleeping and she now appeared to them, still in her short silky nightgown and bare feet. She turned towards Nick and the angry lost expression on her ghost-white face softened to show how stunning she had once been. Her black hair flowed behind her and her dark lips stood out in contrast to her too pale face. Her eyes, though, were sad as she drifted towards the man she loved.

Nick was frozen in both fear and sadness. He had truly loved this woman, who was kind and sweet and funny and wouldn't hurt anyone. How could he now fear her? She released her hold on him and he collapsed to the floor with the unexpected loss of pressure on his chest. As he stood up, she approached him and reached out a hand. He looked down at it in fear and she followed the line of his eyes to the flames, dousing them immediately before touching his cheek.

Nick felt both the ice cold of the lost spirit and the warmth of the love that they had once shared and he couldn't help but let her caress his cheek. She leaned forward and kissed him slowly and a tear streaked down his cheek. Once she pulled away from the kiss, she turned around to face the rest of her audience, still frozen against the walls of the hallway.

As soon as she spotted Castiel her lovely face morphed and decayed, showing the true destruction that time and loss had done to her spirit. She disappeared and a second later appeared a breath away from Castiel and shoved her hand into his chest. Castiel sucked in a loud harsh breath as the pain overtook him.

"Cas!" Dean screamed.

"Nick, get the locket!" Sam whispered to Nick, who was the only person who could move. Nick nodded to him and took off at a sprint towards his trailer.

Castiel continued to struggle against the spirit currently sucking the life from him. He was unable to speak, unable to breathe as she was crushing his heart and constricting his lungs. All he could do was look to Dean, who was screaming his name and struggling against his invisible bonds. "Sam, we have to help him! Harry! Get back here you son of a bitch!" he screamed, praying that Harry was still alive with the weapons bag.

Dean caught Castiel's eyes as the man looked towards him, hopeless, sad, pleading. He couldn't speak but he managed to choke out a weak, "Dean," before losing consciousness.

"No!" Dean screamed over the deafening sound of the gunshot that came from the end of the hallway. It was Harry. He had burst through one of the doors and shot a salt round through the spirit, causing her to flicker away and releasing the bonds holding Sam, Dean and Ed to the walls.

Dean ran straight to Castiel, who lay crumpled in a heap on the ground against the wall and pulled the angel into his arms. "Cas! Come on, talk to me!" He shook his shoulders and gently patted his face and Castiel's eyes fluttered open as he sucked in a huge breath of air.

"Dean… I-"

But Castiel didn't have a chance to finish as Dean was yanked off of him and thrown down the hallway frozen again even further away when the spirit reappeared. Sam had grabbed the shotgun from Harry but it was thrown from his hands and clattered across the floor as he too was again shoved back and incapacitated.

Meghan slammed her hand back into Castiel's chest screaming, "Mine, mine, mine," into his head so loudly that he was afraid his head would explode from the pressure. He squeezed his eyes shut and dug his knuckles into his temples. Meghan was squeezing the life from him again and he could feel his insides begin to vibrate and burn with her fury. Castiel's hands fell as he lost all strength, but he just managed to pry his eyes open and search the hallway lethargically for Dean, stopping only once he locked onto the man's green eyes and held them for all he was worth. Dean nearly vomited as he heard a horrible gurgle come from Cas' throat as he tried to gasp for air.

"Meghan, stop!" Nick screamed at her. He had just come running back into the hallway, sliding to a halt a few feet behind her with the locket in his hand. "Don't hurt him! I didn't do anything with him. We just talked and he slept on my couch. I never even touched him! I love _you_! Please, stop!"

Nick had distracted Meghan long enough for her to loosen her grip on Dean who rolled forward, grabbing the iron crowbar sticking out of Harry's discarded backpack as he lunged forward slamming into the spirit. The iron worked and she disappeared but only for a moment.

She reappeared directly in front of Nick and she reached out to caress his cheek. She pleaded, "Come with me," and thrust her hand into his chest causing him to freeze and gasp for air, losing his grip on the locket that dropped to the ground with a clink.

Maggie dropped her camera and lunged for the locket as Sam tossed her a lighter. She pried open the locket and lit the black locks on fire and everyone winced at the blood curdling scream that escaped from the spirit as she burned away. Nick collapsed to the floor and Sam and Maggie ran to him to help him up.

Dean turned to Castiel who wasn't moving, he lay in a heap on the ground. He fell to his knees and grabbed Castiel by the front of his shirt, pulling him up but felt a sick twist in his gut when the man's head lulled to the side, eyes slightly opened but completely unfocused. He brought Castiel's chest to his and grabbed the back of his head with one hand, and placed the fingers of his other hand on the angel's neck before his blood ran ice cold at the absence of a pulse there. No! No! Dean screamed internally. He couldn't lose Cas now! He hadn't even told the angel how he felt. It couldn't end this way! Not now, not when he could finally see a glimmer of hope for him and Cas.

Dean rocked back and forth and screamed Cas' name through gritted teeth as tears overflowed from his eyes. This was the second time that he had found himself kneeling on the ground, clinging to the lifeless body of someone he loved.

"Cas, you listen to me, you bastard," Dean growled in the man's ear, "you don't have your grace any more. You can't just die like this. You won't come back without it. Come on, man, wake up so we can go find your damn grace and power you back up. Fight this, Cas. I need you," he begged. He took a deep breath before whispering, "I love you."

When Castiel didn't respond, Dean sunk down onto his backside and leaned back against the wall, holding Cas' body across his outstretched legs, the man's cheek leaning against his chest. He banged his head back against the wall again and again, squeezing his eyes shut and spitting out a litany of no's between his teeth. A resigned tear trickled down the side of his face when he felt a trembling hand on the side of his neck. He looked down and Cas' blue eyes were open, looking up at him.

Dean felt a wave of relief flood his body so strong that he didn't even think before he leaned down placing his lips on Castiel's, abandoning all his fears to the elation that he felt seeing the man in his arms breathing again. The kiss was chaste, a soft promise. The men tightened their grip on one another and held on desperately and Dean whispered, "You ever fucking do that again, I'll kill you."

"I'm sorry Dean," Castiel croaked out and Dean smiled for the first time since this case began.

He finally became aware that there were other people present. Sam and Maggie were taking care of Nick, who had passed out and was just now waking up. Harry had rushed to Ed's side, helping to calm him down after his asthma attack and the two men were now geeking out over the fact that Harry had actually shot a ghost. The men walked over to where Dean and Castiel were disentangling themselves and Ed proclaimed, "Son of a Klingon! Once again gay love has pierced through the veil of death and saved the day!"


	11. Chapter 11

Dear readers – I'm sorry about the long delay in getting this final chapter to you. I took a week off of writing to participate in GISHWHES then the first week of school added another delay. But I have finally finished this story. You asked for it. Let's finish with a bang, literally. Enjoy the M rating!

* * *

As the dust settled, Sam was helping a woozy Nick to his feet, the Ghostfacers were fuming that yet another film of a spirit was ruined when the camera crashed to the ground, and Dean was helping a barely conscious Castiel to his feet and dragging him to the bench.

He deposited his friend on the seat and looked him over as Castiel leaned forward, burying his head in his hands.

"Hey, you OK?" Dean asked.

"I will be fine. I just need... a moment." Castiel growled out.

Dean ran a worried hand through his hair and sat down next to Castiel on the bench, watching the rest of the group recovering from the chaos. Everyone had taken a bit of a beating from the spirit but looked like they were gradually getting their bearings.

"No. No. NO!" Ed was pressing every button on the camera, trying to get it to play back the video that Maggie had taken. "C'mon work, you stupid camera!"

"Here, let me try," growled Harry and grabbed the camera from his partner.

Maggie was apologizing when Sam approached the trio, "Maggie, you did great. Cas and Nick are alive because of you. Don't worry about the film."

Maggie beamed at Sam's compliments and Harry took notice of the interaction, quickly draping an arm over Maggie's shoulder, "Yeah, Maggie, great job," he said, but he was glaring at Sam, who tried hard not to laugh at Harry's show of possessiveness.

"You know what, Harry? You didn't do too bad yourself." He had, after all, managed to get a salt round off, stopping the spirit from hurting Castiel further.

Harry tried his best to look casual, "Well, we _are_ professionals."

Sam sighed, "Just… be careful, guys. And, seriously, don't try to do this on your own. If you need help, call me." Sam handed Ed a slip of paper with his phone number on it.

"What about Spirk over there?" Ed pointed a thumb to the bench where Dean and Castiel were sitting. "Not sure they want the competition from the Ghostfacers."

Sam huffed in exasperation, "We aren't in competition. We don't want any publicity, just to help."

"Let me guess," chimed Maggie, "saving people, hunting things?"

Sam gave her a quizzical look as did her two counterparts.

"What?" She shrugged her shoulders and looked around at the three men now staring at her. "I read the books."

"Really?" Ed turned on her, "You read these douchenozzel's books?"

"Shut up, Ed! It was research!" Maggie responded, mumbling to herself, "mostly."

Sam had officially had enough. "Just, be careful guys," he pleaded before shaking hands and saying goodbye to Nick then walking over to Dean.

Dean stood up and handed Sam the keys to the Impala. "There's something that I've got to do. Take Cas to the car and I'll meet you there in five."

* * *

Dean approached Melody's dressing room cautiously. He wasn't sure why he felt like he had to see her, maybe to let her know everything was safe now. He knew how scared she had been and would probably be pretty freaked out once she heard about Lance.

She answered the door looking pale and scared, "Dean?"

"Hey, Melody, can I come in?"

"Of course," she said as she stepped aside for him to come in. "What's going on? I thought it was over but I heard about Lance?"

"Yeah, we were wrong about who the spirit was. Turns out it was Nick's old girlfriend. She was only after people who she thought had been with Nick."

Melody paused for a moment, "Wait... Nick and Lance? Hmm, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, they were... really close," she mumbled with an eye roll.

Dean raised his eyebrows at the implication, "Yeah, well, we definitely got rid of her this time. Bitch almost killed Cas before we got her."

"Oh my God, Dean."

"He's OK and you're safe now." Melody looked relieved. Dean took a step towards the door, "Listen, we've got to get going but you take care of yourself, OK?"

Melody came up to him and threw her arms around his neck, standing on her toes to place a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, for everything," she whispered before stepping back and looking up at him with a knowing smile, "And you take care of Castiel."

Dean huffed an inward laugh, "You too, make him look good."

"Promise. And I'm fighting for the right story too. Dean should definitely end up with Castiel."

This time Dean smiled at her for real, raising one eyebrow, "I'm working on it," he quipped and Melody laughed as Dean walked away.

* * *

The drive back to the motel was quiet. Castiel had fallen asleep in the back seat practically the moment he sat down while Dean and Sam sat in the front, things unsaid creating a thick tension in the car. When they pulled in, Dean gave Castiel the room key and told him to go get some rest before he opened the trunk to pull out two bottles from the small cooler he kept there. Sam had already taken his spot on the hood of the Impala when Dean walked up to him and handed him one of the bottles before leaning back against the car, legs crossed and one hand shoved into his jeans pocket.

Sam downed half of his beer and shifted anxiously for a moment before clearing his throat, "So... you and Cas, huh?"

Dean shrugged slightly, "Me and Cas..." he responded contemplatively and took a swig of his beer.

Sam gave a sharp nod of his head, his mouth quirking up to just the hint of a smile, "Good," was all he needed to say. Sam though it _was_ good. How could it not be? His brother deserved someone in his life who would be good to him and Castiel, Sam was certain, loved Dean fiercely. The angel who had watched the whole of human history had decided that Dean was the one human worth rebelling and falling for. He believed that Cas would stand by Dean through just about anything.

Dean tilted his head and gave and almost imperceptible nod of his head, a feeling of overwhelming relief that he had the support of Sam. His simple acknowledgement was enough. Sam knew that Dean wouldn't want to talk about his feelings so he gave Dean the one thing that he did need; his approval. The two brothers sat on the back on the Impala like they had so many times before, not needing to say anything, just sharing the comfortable silence.

"Here," Sam's voice finally interrupted the quiet after their second beer. Dean looked at his brother's hand as he held it out.

"What's this?"

"Room key," said Sam matter-of-factly, "You need to talk to Cas and I'm getting my own room."

"But..."

"See you in the morning, Dean," Sam picked up his duffle and walked away from his brother towards the motel's office.

Shit, thought Dean as he downed the last of his beer. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this nervous with someone. Dean Winchester, smooth talker, could pick up anyone with his slick humor and smile, but this felt different.

But it was just Cas, right? Cas was still Cas, his friend of, what has it been, seven years now? It seemed like longer. It seemed like his life could be divided into two distinct halves - before Cas and after Cas. How had they even gotten here, he wondered. From the moment the powerful angel had burst through those barn doors years ago the two of them have had something... undefinable.

But maybe that makes sense for them. They've never exactly been _normal_ kind of people. Maybe what they have doesn't have a definition and doesn't need to. Since when had the Winchesters ever lived by any conventional rules? An angel without his grace and a hunter who once didn't even believe in angels – what a pair! Dean summoned up his courage, laughing to himself that taking this step with his best friend somehow was more terrifying than the monsters that he faced almost daily, and opened the door to the motel room.

Castiel was sitting on the edge of a bed, his elbows resting on his knees as he studied the ragged carpet of the motel floor. Dean thought he looked a little better, some color had returned to his face and he looked comfortable, freshly showered and wearing Dean's old grey sweatpants and grey threadbare Led Zeppelin t-shirt. His hair was still damp, Cas had obviously towel dried it and nothing else as it stuck up in every direction, reminding Dean of the first time they met. Cas looked up at Dean and when their eyes met, Dean could see a sadness there.

"Hey, Cas, how you feelin'?" Dean tried to be casual, tossing his keys on the table and striding to the bathroom to splash water on his face and clean up.

Castiel was slow to respond, then looked around the room, "Where's Sam?"

Dean spit out his toothpaste, "Got his own room. He… um… thought we could all use the extra space to… uh… rest." He rinsed and grabbed a towel and dried his face off, leaning on the doorframe to watch his friend.

"I'm sorry, Dean."

"What?"

"I was wrong about the spirit and without my grace, I was a liability to this hunt. I was nearly killed. I was powerless against a simple vengeful spirit. I can no longer even heal your wounds."

"Dude, are you kidding? Do _not_ apologize. You did great. Don't worry about the healing, we're all a little banged up, but that's part of hunting. Shit, you've even earned a shotgun seat for the next hunt."

Castiel's expression changed. Those sad, pleading eyes squinted like he was trying to figure Dean out. "So, you still want me to hunt with you?" His tone indicated that he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Yeah, Cas," Dean said, a hint of exasperation in his voice as he turned back to the bathroom to put away his towel, "I still want you to hunt with me – us."

Dean turned back around and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he found Cas standing less than a foot from him. Shit! Cas may not be able to zap around anymore, but he still was a sneaky bastard. "Dammit, Cas! What-"

"You kissed me," Castiel stated and moved forward a little, crowding Dean's personal space even more, "why?"

Dean's mouth opened and closed a few times, lost for words, and suddenly feeling very cramped in the doorway to the small bathroom.

"Why do you want me to stay, now?" Castiel pressed, inching closer, boring into Dean with those damn blue eyes.

Castiel was so close Dean could feel the breath of his words ghost over his skin. But even more, he could read so much in the angel's eyes. There was sadness, pleading, confusion and hope. And Dean remembered what Sam had said, that the spell would only work with the grace of an angel who was in love with a human and what Melody had said about how clear it was that Cas loved him. And everything in that look made sense. Cas was asking him, _needing_ him, to love him back. And that was all it took for Dean to surge forward, closing the gap between them. With both hands on Castiel's jaw, he pulled their mouths together and kissed his friend.

Castiel made a surprised sound in the back of his throat and froze, arms hanging stiffly at his sides. Come on, Dean thought, don't let me be the only one here. Please, Dean sent a silent prayer to anyone listening, _please_ let this be what Cas wants, because he knew, without any more doubts that he wanted Cas, needed him, loved him. After a moment, Dean pulled back, keeping his hands on Cas' cheeks and met the man's eyes. And, damn, he was looking at Dean with a freaking adoration that kind of scared him and thrilled him at the same time.

"Cas, I've always wanted you to stay." Dean sighed.

Castiel blinked and finally came out of his shock, rewarding Dean with an upturning of his mouth, a hint of a smile that did something crazy to Dean's insides. And this time Castiel leaned forward and brought his mouth to Dean's, tentatively, cautiously. And the relief, the freaking _relief_ that Dean felt when their lips touched washed over his whole body like the first breath of air to a drowning man.

At first the kiss was timid, Cas' inexperience showing as he pressed his lips to Dean's. And that itself was a turn on for Dean. He would get to show Cas all the pleasures that his new humanity had to offer, make him forget the loss of his grace as he showed him the advantages to being human, one touch at a time.

Dean slid his hand to the back of Castiel's neck and deepened the kiss, moving his lips, skillfully urging Castiel to do the same. The softness of his mouth was an odd contrast to Cas' stubble rubbing against his chin, and this new sensation was all Cas. And Dean thought to himself that Cas wasn't the only one here treading new waters. The thought of being with a man should have freaked him out, although in all honesty, men had shown up in a few of his more kinky fantasies and the occasional Casa Erotica rental. But somehow, because it was Cas, gender just didn't seem to matter.

Right now the only thing that mattered was that sinfully wrecked noise that Cas just made, and holy shit, did that just go to his groin! Dean groaned in response and opened his mouth to lick a teasing line across Cas' lower lip, seeking more. And Cas eagerly opened for him, letting Dean explore and taste with his tongue. Cas tasted fresh and sweet, like the mint toothpaste he had just used and he smelled of the nondescript ivory smell of hotel soap and something else heady and purely human.

Cas was hesitant, letting Dean lead and explore until Dean's tongue swiped over his own and he shivered, causing Dean to smile into the kiss. Dean licked the roof of Cas' mouth which pulled a soft whimper from the angel and Dean could feel Cas' inhibitions coming down as his hands came up to thread through Dean's short hair. Cas sucked on his tongue before delving his own into Dean's mouth, exploring tongue and teeth and lips like he was trying to memorize every inch of him.

Dean's hands slid down Castiel's back and pulled in when they reached the small of this back, crushing their bodies together before sliding up under Castiel's shirt to finally explore skin. Castiel's hands were still in his hair, gently grabbing small handfuls, causing shocks of pleasure to wash through Dean. Castiel moved forward, pushing Dean back against the door, surprising him with his eagerness.

Dean reluctantly broke the kiss to pull Castiel's shirt over his head as he ran his hands under Dean's shirt, prompting him to tear off his own as well. Castiel stood back, still breathing heavily as his eyes hungrily roamed over Dean's body. Damn, Dean thought he looked gorgeous like this, eyes dark with lust, lips red and slick from being kissed and cut chest rising and falling with his deep breaths. He slowly brought his right hand up and rested the palm over Dean's heart as he closed his eyes and let out a slow breath.

Dean was a little confused by the sudden slow down in the action and asked cautiously, "Cas?"

"I can feel it, Dean," Castiel whispered, the gravel in his voice even lower than usual.

"What?"

"My grace. I threaded you back together with my grace when your soul and body were torn apart. It pulses through your veins and I can feel it now. Metatron doesn't have all of my grace because you hold it inside of you."

"Cas…"

"It's, OK, Dean. Even if I never get my grace back, it's OK. If you are the only thing left of my grace, than I am happy, because it lives in you."

Dean always knew that they had a connection of sorts but he never realized that Cas' _actual_ grace was what breathed life back into his body after hell and it now lived in his very cells, connecting them in a way that even he could barely understand. Dean had no words; he was always more of a man of action anyway. All he knew was that he wanted to take away Cas' pain and fill the emptiness left by his grace.

Castiel tilted his head and opened his eyes as they began to rake over Dean, taking in every curve, freckle and scar and then his hands followed, tracing the lines of his eyes, ghosting over Dean's skin. Dean stood, transfixed, aching to touch Cas back but somehow knowing that Cas needed this. His long fingers traced the outline of Dean's tattoo and ran across the line of his collar, stopping to map a scar on his arm.

"These are all new. When I remade you, I wiped away every scar." Castiel kissed along the line of the mark, just slightly lighter than the skin around it. He continued like this, exploring Dean's torso with his fingers and tongue and lips. It was as if Castiel was relearning Dean through touch. Dean leaned his head back against the door, breathing out soft moans at the gentle caresses and running his fingers through Cas's hair. Castiel's touch made Dean feel treasured, filling a need he had carried with him his entire life.

Dean was so hard in his jeans it hurt and when Cas' tongue licked along his hip, he couldn't take it anymore. He pulled Cas up by the shoulders and dragged him to the bed, pushing him down and crushing their mouths together in a blinding kiss as he straddled Cas' hips and rubbed their bodies together, desperately seeking the relief of the friction between them. When he pulled away and looked down at his friend Cas was smiling, fucking smiling up at him with the most smug look he had ever seen on the angel's face.

"Fuck, Cas! Were you fucking teasing me? Where did you even learn that?!"

"Dean, inexperience doesn't mean ignorance. I have observed human interactions for centuries and I rebuilt your body. I know where you are sensitive." And to prove his point, he leaned up and dragged his teeth over the skin just behind Dean's ear, pulling a soft curse from the man.

"Well, that's just cheating. Now I'm gonna have to find your turn-ons so we're even," Dean grinned down at Cas mischievously. "Hmmm… maybe this?" Dean whispered onto Cas' cheek as he swirled a finger around Cas' nipple, causing the angel to arch his back and suck in a breath as Dean chuckled at his friend's reaction.

Dean continued to tease Cas' nipple as he moved his mouth to lick up the side of his neck, stopping to suck Cas' earlobe, pulling a soft sigh from Cas, before whispering, "Oh, you like that too, huh?" Castiel hummed an affirmative and nodded his head.

Dean huffed a soft laugh. God, he was enjoying watching Cas. The man's head was tilted back onto the pillow, exposing a long neck and his back was arching as he writhed and moaned at Dean's touches. When Dean's hand ghosted over Cas' ribs, the man shuttered and laughed, just a soft low rumble in his chest, but it was a sound Dean had never heard before and it washed over him, relaxing him the way the sound of water bubbling over rocks in a stream could. Castiel, the angel of the Lord, who was always so controlled and stiff was coming apart, losing control, under Dean's hands and it was beautiful.

Dean leaned to his side, propped up on one elbow with a hand behind Cas' head as his other hand continued to explore the man's torso, rubbing soothing circles in the dip of his hipbone, tracing the hard lines of his abdomen, trailing the line of dark hair below his navel. With his mouth, he alternated between deeply kissing Cas' mouth and exploring the rest of his neck with his tongue and teeth and lips, all the while whispering soft encouragements. "Yeah, Cas, feels so good. Yes, let go… enjoy."

But when his hand slid under the waistband of Cas' sweats and he placed his hand over the hardness of Cas' cock, the man under him bucked and positively growled his name in that whisky voice that sent shivers down Dean's spine. Dean stroked him a few times and watched in wonder as Cas was coming apart, practically vibrating with want and need.

Dean had always prided himself on being good in bed, wanting to take care of his partners and feeling gratified at all of the reactions he could draw from them. But this was something else entirely. Dean wanted to drag every possible sound out of Cas and drink in every reaction to his touch. He wanted to break him down to the basics of humanity, make him feel nothing but the thrum of energy and bliss and release and convince him that it's worth it, all of this crappy humanity can be worth it for that moment of connection he wants to give Cas.

Dean lifted himself off of Cas to sit up and Cas whimpered, positively _whimpered_, a beautiful wrecked sound, at the loss of Dean by his side. Dean grinned and placed a peck of a kiss on Cas' mouth saying, "I'll be right back." He rummaged through his duffle bag for a moment, returning with a bottle of lube and a couple of condoms, which he tossed on the bed, before kneeling between Cas' legs. Cas was looking up at him, blue eyes boring into green, looking completely debauched, he was just about the sexiest thing Dean had ever seen.

Dean made quick work of removing Cas' sweats and boxers, freeing the man's cock, hard and swollen and glistening with pre-come. Dean took in the sight and surprised even himself when he had an overwhelming desire to put his mouth on Cas. He had thought being with a guy would be awkward, but this just felt… right. He had never done this before, but he knew what he liked from girls, how hard could it be?

He licked a line from the base to the tip and just went for it, covered Cas' cock with his mouth and explored with his tongue. The heavy heat of it felt good on his tongue and when Cas moaned his name in the sexiest voice he had ever heard, it spurned Dean on. He was trying every trick that he knew he loved; swirling his tongue just under the head, hollowing his cheeks to suck in quickening rhythm, and stroking the base of his cock in time with his mouth. He looked up at Cas and the sight was just about enough to make him lose control himself. Cas was looking down at him with a look in his eyes that could only be described as adoration. And when Dean sucked and licked at Cas' slit, the man's head fell back and his hands flew up to card through Dean's hair. Dean could feel Cas was close and picked up his rhythm to match the thrusting of the man's hips.

"Dean, ah, ahhhh," Cas hissed as he came, pulses of hot salty liquid were swallowed down by Dean as he sucked the last of Cas' climax from him.

Dean was feeling pretty good about a job well done, as he pulled off Cas and crawled up to meet the man's mouth, gently kissing him back to awareness. When Cas' eyes finally fluttered open he smiled up at his lover and whispered, "Dean," with a reverence that Dean could never quite understand.

"Yeah, Cas?"

"I love you, Dean."

"I know," said Dean before placing another kiss on Cas' lips, deepening it with his tongue.

Dean was finally working his own pants off with one hand and Castiel joined him, looping his thumbs through Dean's belt loop and pulling off his jeans and boxers once Dean had them unbuttoned. Castiel began stroking Dean and he hadn't come from this little contact since high school, but damn, he could now. But he wanted to be inside Cas, to fill him up, to fit into that grace-shaped hole inside of Cas and cleave their bodies together, let Cas feel his grace through Dean.

He knelt up and poured a generous amount of lube onto his fingers and slid one hand between Cas' legs, and rubbed soft circles around Cas' hole before sliding one finger in. Castiel stiffened at the new feeling and Dean rubbed his free hand over Cas' thigh, placing kisses along the tender skin on the inside of his thigh. When Cas sighed, a deep pleasure filled release, Dean began to move his finger again, in and out, circling as Cas' muscles adjusted and began to relax. Dean added a second finger and scissored them, grazing over Cas' prostate, causing him to buck his hips in surprise.

"Dean, oh, please, please!"

Dean smirked to himself that he had the angel begging for more. Damn! It was the hottest sound he had ever heard. He sucked a deep red mark into Cas' inner thigh as he continued working Cas open with his fingers, adding a third and reveling in the delicious jerk of his hips that he could draw out every time he stroked that perfect spot.

"Dean, I want you inside of me," Castiel growled out and Dean pulled his fingers slowly out of Cas and sat up, quickly grabbing a condom and rolling it over his cock and applying more lube to himself. He leaned forward, slotting his body perfectly over Cas' stopping when his head was just teasing at Cas' hole.

He looked down at the angel beneath him and whispered, "Cas," over his lips and when Castiel crushed their mouths together desperately, he pushed his erection into Cas. Both men groaned in unison as the new feeling overtook them. Dean began to rock forward, bit by bit until he was fully sheathed in Cas' tight heat.

"Oh, fuck, Cas," Dean moaned, eyes squeezed tight, as the feeling of being inside his angel overwhelmed him.

Cas' hands moved to his face, cupping both of his cheeks as he breathed, "Dean," forcing Dean to open his eyes and focus on Castiel. Their eyes locked and Dean could feel an electricity between them. He didn't know if it was the grace they shared but damn, it was better than anything he had ever felt, that is until Castiel began to rock his hips up under Dean and the feeling became even more intense.

The men found a perfect rhythm together as their bodies moved, Dean thrusting and pounding against Castiel's prostate, sharing waves of pleasure until he could feel the tension coil in Cas' body and revel in his erratic breaths and repeated moans of, "Dean, Dean, yes, there, more Dean!" And when Castiel came, muscles clenching tightly around Dean, he too was pulled over the edge as he let himself go, floating in the intense ecstasy of his orgasm.

When Dean could finally see again, he gently pulled out of Cas, tied off the condom and cleaned them both up with a towel before laying back down so that he and Cas were both on their sides, facing one another, legs tangled up, lips so close they were breathing the same air. Castiel reached up and stroked soothing circles through the short hair at Dean's temple, damp with sweat.

"So, Cas, what do you think about the best part of humanity?" Dean smiled at his question.

"The best part of humanity is how much I can feel," Castiel added shyly, "for you."

Dean pulled Cas to him, kissing him soundly before settling Cas' head down on his shoulder, arm draped across his chest.

Content and comfortable, Castiel soon drifted to sleep with Dean comforted by the slow rhythm of his breathing. When Dean was sure Cas was asleep, he placed a kiss in the mess of Cas' hair and whispered, "I love you, Cas." Castiel opened his eyes just slightly and smiled at the quiet declaration then closed his eyes, drenched in the warmth of his favorite human feeling.

* * *

Thank you all for reading along and for all of your lovely and helpful comments. They help to make be a better writer and encourage me to keep writing.


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